Calamity
by Thnikkafan
Summary: The crew of the Serenity find themselves facing a group of foes who have a striking resemblance to the crew... almost as if they are mirror images of each other. Yep, it's a Mirror Universe fanfic. Pre-movie.
1. Prologue: Arrival

"**Calamity**"

A _Firefly_ fanfic

_**Author's note:**_ This takes place after "Objects in Space", but before the movie. Also, neither Book or Inara have left, so it's still the standard nine. I haven't read "Those Left Behind", so there's none of it taken into account. Actually, there's not much of anything from the comics besides "A Shepard's Tale" in this story. If things in this comic are canonically impossible or wrong, I apologize. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it. I do not own any of the characters or places involved in this work: they all belong to (presumably) Joss Whedon. I know it probably isn't on the level of "Forward" or any of the real quality stories, but I hope it's good.

* * *

Nobody quite knew what it was. The place that just about every scientist started with when asked was where it was and how big it was. That part was easy: the formation (to use but one of the phrases that was used to describe it) was sitting in the orbital path of Boros, and it was about the size of a large asteroid. It spewed vast quantities of light, radiation, and energy at a regular basis. The Alliance called it the Font. Nobody called it anything else, because the Alliance had it monitored, guarded, and more-or-less hidden away.

As to what it was, that was a point of contention and at least one brawl. Some said it was a wormhole. Others said it was some sort of point where ambient energy was absorbed and released on a regular basis. Most just said "we don't know", though most used more scientific terms than that.

This story concerns the Font, though only for a little while. After all, stories need something to start them, and for this one, that would be the Font.

Observing the Font, if you weren't doing tests, was one of the more boring jobs in the 'verse. You weren't allowed to look at it, because you'd go blind or worse. Your job on the facility was to keep it running, keep the people on it running, or keep the higher-ups willing to let it keep running. Mostly, though, it was lots of staring at computers until your eyes fell out.

Then, every detector, monitoring device, and alarm focusing on the Font went off at once.

"Doc, what the hell is going on?" said the Alliance overseer of the facility around the Font.

"Well, the base energy levels of the area around the formation, of all sorts, have gone up," said the doctor. The formation has also stopped emitting energy from its main point. However, the energy in the center, in region A, has increased to over six thousand percent of what it was, while the energy in the-"

"Enough with the scientific jargon. Dumb it down for me."

"Well, it's all accumulating into a very small s-"

At that moment, the doctor, the overseer, and everyone working on the facility, as well as the facility itself, was destroyed. The Font had pulsed with an immense amount of radiation, contracted the matter around it, and exploded forth in a great plume of energy and matter.

And as quickly as the event occurred, the energy dissipated, and the Font was no more. All that remained within the radius of the energy were shredded space station bits, some rock, and a single unharmed space craft that wasn't there before.

The ship was moving at an intense speed, but before long, its engine roared, and the ship spewed energy forward and slowed to a stop.

As it so happened, it stopped directly in front of the Alliance cruiser that was monitoring the area. The _IAV Kung Lao _dwarfed the smaller unknown craft, and currently, the little ship was quite the point of interest.

"Captain, there seems to be a ship sitting in front of us. Only thing that came out of there intact."

"I can see that for myself, Officer Xian," said the captain. "It appears to be manned, as well."

"Looks like…" Officer Xian squinted at a monitor. "Sir, did the Alliance ever refurbish any _Firefly_-class vessels into Alliance warships?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"Because, that is _exactly_ what it looks like. Standard paint job for a destroyer, plus I can see she's armed."

"Prep the secondary cannons. Tell the fighters to be ready for launch. I'll see what they have to say."

Officer Xian left the bridge as the captain of the _IAV Kung Lao_ hailed the _Firefly_ sitting calmly in front of the cruiser.

"This is Captain Stephen Bloom of the _IAV_ _Kung Lao_. Please state who you are and what your current situation is."

The video feed took a second to connect. The man being spoken to was dressed in the same Alliance regalia as he was. The only difference was the cross worn around his neck and the medals on his jacket. Cpt. Bloom looked at him and furrowed his brow. _Something about this ship is simply unsettling,_ he thought.

"This is Captain Malcolm Reynolds of the _IAV Serenity_. We lost radio contact with the rest of the 'verse for a few days after flying a bit too close to some sort of stellar formation." Bloom heard someone grumble offscreen. "Then, everything went all bright, and here we are."

Cpt. Bloom nodded with mild unease. "Your vessel is rather unique. What is its purpose?"

"Purpose?" said Cpt. Reynolds. "It's purpose is to fly me and whoever's on it where we need to go."

"That didn't answer my question. Your vessel has several armaments that I am sure are not standard on a _Firefly_-class vessel. The legality of such things is questionable, to say the least."

"Oh, well, look me up then. I believe, given my standing and current orders, the modifications I've made are permitted."

Cpt. Bloom gestured for some of the other bridge crew to start an analysis.

"Well, state your current orders, then," said Cpt. Bloom.

"My orders are the transportation of three specific individuals," said Cpt. Reynolds. "Any more would be telling classified information."

"And I am assuming the identities of these individuals are also classified?"

"Yes they are." Cpt. Reynolds smiled, shiny and almost sincere.

"Sir," said one of the officers on the bridge of the _IAV Kung Lao_, "there is no ID for any _Firefly_-class vessels in the Alliance fleet, nor any by the name of _Serenity_, or any record of- no, there _is_ a Captain Malcom Reynolds, but he was only one of the Independents that had surrendered after the Battle of Serenity Valley. He _is_ the captain of a _Firefly_-class transport ship called _Serenity_, but it certainly isn't Alliance."

Cpt. Bloom leaned back, crossed his arms, and cocked an eyebrow. "Well?"

"Oh, I was at the Battle of Serenity Valley, alright. I dominated those Browncoats. Led the final push, and I personally executed the last officer of the Independent forces in the valley. That's where I got most of these from." Cpt. Reynolds pointed to the medals on his chest.

"If you're so decorated, then why aren't you on record anywhere?"

"Well… hm. That's certainly odd." Cpt. Reynolds thought for a bit. "Oh! The mission, and the people. Must be completely black ops. If I had to guess, we've been stricken from the records. Or, your records might be off." He shrugged.

"Captain Reynolds," said Cpt. Bloom. "Understand that our vessel is five times the size of yours, ten times as well-armed, and has a contingent of two hundred fighters which could each outmatch your vessel. Now, if you are truly on the record about these individuals, I'd like to be talking to one of them within a minute."

"Captain Bloom, please, I don't-"

"Oh, I feel like if he wants an audience with one of us, he shall have it. Besides, I would like to speak with him myself."

That was a different person aboard the _IAV Serenity_, and his voice alone rattled Cpt. Bloom. It reminded him of a scalpel, cold, clinical and dangerous.

"As you wish. God be with you, Captain Bloom." Cpt. Reynolds left the image, and was replaced with another man.

"Good day to you, Captain Bloom," said the man. He had the voice he heard earlier, and the appearance to match it. He was gaunt and emotionless. His face had a scar running from under his right eye to the top of his lip. He wore glasses that, for a moment, reflected the light of the computer screens and obscured his eyes. Which Cpt. Bloom would have preferred, honestly, for his eyes were cold, gray, and piercing. He wore what looked like a black lab coat, and blue gloves that were presumably latex.

"Good day. Who are you?"

"I do not feel like I need to tell you that. I am an Operative of the Alliance, and that is all that needs to be known."

"An Operative…" Cpt. Bloom had heard of Operatives; Alliance spooks who could get away with basically everything and anything. Seeing their faces was almost enough to guarantee you being silenced in the near future. On the other hand, Bloom had also heard of certain parties calling themselves Alliance Operatives as a conveniently unverifiable alibi. Regardless, Operatives had to be marked down somewhere, so Cpt. Bloom decided to get his men working on finding out.

"What do you want, then?" asked Cpt. Bloom.

"I wish to inform you that you are to power down your secondary cannons and cancel the orders given to your fighters."

"I wasn't aware of you knowing of those orders."

"Oh, I know about a lot of things, Stephen. I am a very smart man."

Cpt. Bloom glared at the Operative. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow you out of the sky here and now."

"Can you?"

Officer Xian re-entered the room. "Sir, power has been lost in all weapon systems, and the fighters are all locked down."

Cpt. Bloom looked at Officer Xian, and back to the Operative. All he did was smirk.

"Since I have the upper hand here, and I know that I have been stricken from all records, Alliance or otherwise, I feel like humoring you a little bit. My name is Simon Tam. Go on, look it up." The Operative sat down in the captain's chair and leaned back. "I can wait."

Cpt. Bloom did so personally.

"Simon Tam…" said Cpt. Bloom. "Known fugitive. Harboring another fugitive, known as River Tam, your sister. One of the higher bounties in the 'verse."

The Operative looked surprised for a millisecond. "My relation with Subject 06 is only genetics, nothing more. And I am no fugitive."

"Tell that to the records. Officer Xian, put out a warrant on this vessel, the _"Serenity"_. _Firefly-_class, painted up like an Alliance vessel."

"I see." The Operative whispered something to Cpt. Reynolds, who nodded and left. For a while, he simply stared Cpt. Bloom down. "Your logs and records seem full of errors, Stephen."

"Or maybe you and your captain are just deluded, or liars. Officer Xian, give the order for-"

At that moment, Captain Stephen Bloom's head whipped back with a loud crack, and he fell to the floor of the bridge. Officer Xian and the rest of the bridge staff looked in horror at the Operative.

"Gentlemen, I bid you farewell."

And with a wave of his hand, the video screen went off.

* * *

"That was absolutely unnecessary."

Captain Reynolds walked back onto the helm. The pilot of the ship turned and looked at him. He nodded. "Get us to whatever planet is closest, and has people on it."

The pilot pulled away from the _IAV Kung Lao_ before it could recover and retaliate.

"It's looking like that would be…" said the pilot, "Boros. But, with all due respect, sir, considering how they have our number, and we sort of killed the captain of a cruiser, we'd be shot on sight."

"An excellent point," said Cpt. Reynolds. "Speaking of, Mr. Tam, why the hell did you kill an Alliance captain in cold blood?"

"He was in the way," said Mr. Tam. "Besides, I was not the one who utilized Subject 06 in such a way."

"You gave me the order knowing full well you'd stab me in my sleep if I refused."

"I wouldn't dream of it. I don't like knives."

"Look, regardless, we've got the Alliance on our backs now, and we're running low on fuel."

"Mending the relations between us and the Alliance would be easy-"

"Now, covering up all that would be a bit too much, probably even for her. Not to mention that's a whole lot of men whose minds are being tampered with. Good men, too, if they're with the Alliance."

"Hey, can you two have your morality debates somewhere else, please?" said the pilot. "We're currently being monitored _quite_ heavily, and I need to focus."

"As you wish, Sgt. Washburn," said Cpt. Reynolds. He and Mr. Tam exited the helm, leaving Sgt. Hoban Washburn alone with the stars.

"Well, as I see it, there are two issues," said Mr. Tam, as the two headed towards the containment area. "The first one is the death of the captain of an Alliance cruiser through ways that do point to us."

"You hammed it up like nobody's business. Acting like some sort of omnipotent force of evil. That's entirely your fault."

"The second issue, which is _not_ my fault, is that myself and Subject 06 are both inexplicably fugitives, and that all records of you and your accomplishments have vanished."

"That is more of an issue, yes. Got any ideas?"

"Sir." The engineer of the _IAV Serenity_ ran up to the captain and the Operative. She shot Mr. Tam a quick, loathsome look. "Everything important is alright. Sure, we're going to run out of fuel, and most of the weapons electronics are sort of fried, but all the big problems are fixed, so… yay?" She shrugged and started to leave.

"Kaylee, you're good at problem-solving, aren't you?" said Cpt. Reynolds.

"Mmmm… yeah, yeah I am. Why do you ask?"

"After going through that formation, suddenly, to the Alliance, I am apparently a Browncoat, and our mutual friend here is a fugitive. Why?"

"Whoa, hey, I'm an engineer, not a gorram philosopher. I solve _practical_ problems."

"Alright, then, get back to work."

"Hold on, hold on," said Kaylee. "I have… no, no, it's ridiculous."

"No, please, go on," said Mr. Tam.

"Well… those are basically mirrors of what you are, aren't they?"

Cpt. Reynolds and Mr. Tam nodded.

"Well, I used to watch old, _old_ programs. Stuff from Earth-That-Was, old relics, that sort of thing. It's what they base a lot of shows and movies on."

"Go on."

"One of them was a science fiction show. Oh, it's completely outdated – aliens, completely wrong starships, that sort of thing. Anyway, one of the episodes had another universe, where good was bad, and the heroes were evil."

"That is relevant in what way?" said Mr. Tam.

"No, no, I see where she's going. You're thinking that we're there now?"

"Yeah. Thanks to that… whatever. That help you two?"

"It did. God be with you, Kaylee."

Kaylee rolled her eyes and headed elsewhere.

"Why do they do that so much, anyway?" said Cpt. Reynolds.

"She may be sick of how often you show your faith," said Mr. Tam.

"Or maybe she's been hanging around Evans too much."

"You blame him too much. Just because his faith is different from your own-"

"He doesn't have faith at all. That's the issue. That man doesn't like God, pure and simple, and he has a problem with the fact that I do."

"I believe I've noticed. Quite often, in fact."

"Hey, the fights keep us in shape. Besides, if you two had such a problem with my faith, you could go elsewhere, I'm sure."

"It is hard to go elsewhere in the middle of the black."

Cpt. Reynolds sighed. "I was using a metaphor. Now, what to do about this situation we're in…"

"What do you think about Ms. Frye's theory?"

"I don't know, I mean, that thing could have done all sorts of things." Cpt. Reynolds paused in thought. "We could ask …her."

"Hm?"

"You know, the Subject. She might know."

Cpt. Bloom and Mr. Tam walked through the last doorway before reaching the containment room.

On an unmodified _Firefly_, it would be the infirmary. On the _IAV Serenity_, though, it was the holding chamber for Subject 06. The drawers were sealed shut, and the operating chair that would normally be in the center was replaced with a small metal chair bolted to the ground. At the request of others on the ship who have seen Subject 06 "at work", the room's walls and floors were replaced with softer rubber. Nevertheless, near the doorway, there was a smear of blood.

Subject 06 herself was currently in the far corner of the room, sitting in the fetal position more-or-less calmly. Cpt. Reynolds knew that if she was being that still, though, her mind was far from calm. God knows what was going on in her brain, and Cpt. Reynolds felt like that was something to keep between Him and her. Her hair was a mess and there was a trickle of blood dripping from her temple. The captain didn't know how exactly she ended up hurting herself when she used her powers – he watched her "at work" once and refused to watch her again.

When Mr. Tam entered the chamber, she balled up tighter and stared intently at her knees.

"Subject 06?" said Mr. Tam.

Subject 06 looked at him for a second before looking back at her knees.

"We think we might be in another universe. Are we?"

When answering questions, Subject 06 tended to shudder, mutter, rock back and forth, and look downward. Cpt. Bloom still found it unnerving. It was too close to a seizure for his liking.

After a minute, Subject 06 stopped shuddering and looked up.

"The world we travel now is not the same. We flew through space and passed into the void." She talked slowly and metrically.

It took Cpt. Reynolds a bit to realize that that meant "yes". If Mr. Tam was confused, he didn't show it.

"And there is another _Serenity_ there? With a crew not unlike our own?"

"Now, Mr. Tam, why do-" said Cpt. Reynolds, but Subject 06 cut him off.

"The mirror shows the faces of this crew. They differ, though, and that cannot be changed."

"And there is another Subject 06 on board as well?" asked Mr. Tam. There was an unnerving excitement in his voice.

"In my triumphs the failures she reflects. She is broken, but still is River Tam."

For a second, Mr. Tam looked like he might strike Subject 06, but did not. Instead, he smiled.

"Excellent. Thank you."

"We are the prey thanks to what we have done," said Subject 06. "We are both on the run from those who rule."

"Hm, yes, I forgot about that fact. Now, our captain says that you're not to go and undo that as a whole."

Subject 06 looked at Cpt. Reynolds. She looked like she was trying to say something, wanted dearly to say it, but physically couldn't.

"Since there is another _Serenity_, and they will be after both ships… of course. Tell them that there will be a specialized ship, not to be named, that will be tracking them down. The standard procedure. And make sure that I am not to be harmed or arrested."

Subject 06 started trembling again. It started to get more and more violent. Cpt. Reynolds took himself and Mr. Tam out of the room.

"I am assuming that is acceptable, captain?" said Mr. Tam.

"It'll do," said Cpt. Reynolds. "One quick question, though. Who is River Tam?"

"That is not relevant. Do not ask me that again." That was the angriest Cpt. Reynolds had seen Mr. Tam in a while.

"I'm just saying, she said that her reflection was her, and you asked if there was another… unless… is she… you wouldn't…"

That thought made Cpt. Reynolds stop.

"Is she… is Subject 06 your _sister?_"

Mr. Tam turned and placed some device into Cpt. Reynold's neck with a great deal of pressure. He couldn't see what it was, but it felt vaguely round and dangerous.

"Only genetics," said Mr. Tam, his voiced harsh with tranquil fury. "Nothing more." He pulled the device away. "Never mention that name or that fact again. It is with mercy that I do no more."

"_Rung tse song di ching dai wuo tzo… _And I thought you were cold before…"

"If I wasn't that way, I would still be an unknown doctor." He smiled, and Cpt. Reynolds was even more unnerved.

"Get her back to normal once she's done. I will tell the crew what we're doing. God be with you both."

Cpt. Reynolds started to make his way back up to the bridge, but someone unexpected popped up. Or rather, since she was hanging by her legs from the ceiling, dropped in.

"Hiya, cap'n!" It was his blonde, blue-eyed, and bubbly second-in-command.

"Zoe, I've told you this so many times, don't just pop up out of the shadows like that!"

"But Malcolm, I've got to keep my skills sharp!" Zoe dropped to the floor and stood by Cpt. Reynolds's side.

"Yes, of course. Anyway, walk with me. We have a new plan."

"Hmmm? What's going on now?"

"Well, apparently, we're in a parallel universe of some sort. There are copies of us, and we're going after them."

"Ooh! Sounds fun!" Zoe paused for a second. "Why?"

"Our benefactor, that's why."

"Why don't you ever call Mr. Tam Mr. Tam, cap'n?"

"Because, if you give someone a real name, it humanizes them, makes them relatable. He certainly isn't relatable, now, is he?"

"Nope. So, is that all that we have on them? Got a place?"

"Not a thing. I figure we'd set down on Persephone – decent place, not too bugged with the Alliance that might still be after us – and get resupplied. We're low on everything. Then, we'll see what we can hear."

"Sounds like a really good plan, sir. Better than usual, even! Soooo, what will I do once we find them?"

"Help us get to them. Once they're beaten, I suppose I can let you take out all of your pent up rages on their analogues to certain crew members here."

"Ooh! Yay!" Zoe's mind filled with possibilities, most of which would get her in very deep trouble. "I know that you'll find-"

That was when Zoe and Cpt. Reynolds reached the bridge. The moment Zoe saw the pilot, she stopped talking and dropped her perpetual smile. When she entered, the pilot stopped piloting the ship, and turned to look at her. They gave each other looks, mostly a stew of hatred and loathing with a pinch of sexual tension. After a few seconds, Zoe seemed to vanish from Cpt. Reynolds's side. If there was one thing she was the best at, it was making herself invisible.

"Ugh," said Sgt. Washburne, turning back to his ship, "that _da shiong la se la ch'wohn tian-_"

"Hey. None of that," said Cpt. Reynolds. "Slight change of plans. We're heading to Persephone instead. Less questions asked there."

"Well, sir, pardon a bit of insubordination, but I've started heading that way already. I checked the Cortex, and they did seem to be quite up in arms about us, but all the announcements on the public feed just went off a little bit ago." Sgt. Washburne paused and looked at the captain for a second. "Why is she still on this ship?"

"Because, I've had her at my side for longer than most men keep married-" Cpt. Reynolds realized that that might've been the exact wrong thing to say.

"Yes, quite a bit longer, especially for her. Especially because of _you._ You two were always a lot closer than me and her, and you hadn't even slept together until we got divorced!"

"Hey, you're the one sticking around! You hate the two of us so badly, why haven't you just left?"

"Well…" said Sgt. Washburn, taking a second to crack his back and focusing intently on the navigational commands, "I'm the only one that actually _knows_ how to work this thing and you know it. There are guns on this girl that you don't even know about. Besides, working here, I'm sure I know too much, and I'd be assassinated."

Cpt. Reynolds shrugged, knowing that the last point was probably true.

"Anyways, I'd appreciate it if you'd head out about now. Maybe have some quiet time with my ex-wife. I'm sure you'd love that."

"Alright, fine. God be-"

"_Juu koh_. Go."

"Okay, okay. Fine." Cpt. Reynolds left the helm.

"So," said Mr. Tam, appearing in front of Cpt. Reynolds out of a passageway. "The plan is set?"

"Yeah, everyone who needs to know knows now. I'm assuming we're going to take them down once we find them?"

"Of course. But not lethally. I want to destroy them personally, one by one. And I need Subject 06 alive. She will be ours."

"What about you? I'd suppose you'd have a copy running around on that ship as well."

"If he is everything I am not, he is not a threat to anyone. The same can presumably be said of yours as well, captain."

"Was that a compliment? Anyways, we should reach Antenora in a day's time. We'll get more details there, I'm sure."

"Well, that will be excellent. I cannot wait for when the two ships meet."

Mr. Tam left as suddenly as he arrived. Cpt. Reynolds took the moment to stop and think. The situation was out of his control. It often was, after Mr. Tam and Mr. Evans moved onto the ship. He couldn't back out, or else he'd have Alliance men after him. That was the one thing about this new world that scared him: the Alliance didn't recognize him. He always liked that his loyalty to the Alliance was rewarded with prestige, but here, it wasn't.

It didn't matter. He was still serving them, and serving Him, and if it meant taking orders from a black ops sociopath, so be it.

Cpt. Reynolds sighed and grasped the cross he wore. "For God, and the Alliance." And he went to tell the rest of the crew what the situation was.

The hunt for the other _Serenity_ was on.

* * *

_**Author's Note**_: So, this is a _Firefly_ Mirror Universe fanfic. I have no idea if it's been done before, but here it is in my personal version. The beginning is probably going to be the worst part of this story by virtue of it basically giving the mirrored characters a reason to be in this universe as well as the information they need. Don't worry; it should be improving once the conflict starts. Also, I'm taking the Chinese swears straight from the _Firefly_ wiki, so if there are any mistranslations or words that don't make sense in context, blame them.


	2. Chapter 1: Sketches

"The mirror is broken."

River Tam was staring intently at the mirror in her bunk. Currently, it was a little bit after quiet hours had ended, when everyone was getting ready to eat a bit of breakfast and start the day. This was the time that River would normally be changing, taking her medications, occasionally having a small mental breakdown, the usual minutiae of her life. But at the moment, she was staring at her mirror, seeming slightly more calm and lucid than usual.

"Hm?" Simon, her brother, was changing out of his sleepwear and into the clothes he usually wore. "It doesn't look cracked or anything…"

"It isn't." River turned and gave Simon a look of annoyance at pointing out a fact that's so obvious. "It's just broken."

"Well, I can't really see how it's broken from here…"

"It's showing the wrong thing. Has been since I woke up. Showing another."

"Oh?" Simon was intrigued. He rarely caught River being this lucid, and if something's different to her and not to him, he could get a glimpse at how she saw the world. "Who is it?"

"Someone else. She's not me. Hair too short, eyes too small, face too thin. More scars, more pain." River smiled at the mirror. "She doesn't smile. It hurts to smile for her."

"Well, you're pretty good at picking up emotions," said Simon, stating something that he knew was painfully obvious, with a rather literal meaning of "painful". "Can you feel what she feels?"

"It's my reflection, Simon," said River, with a thick tone of "duh" in her voice. "It's just… not mine."

"Oh, well, that's interesting. Is anything else different?"

River paced back and forth in front of the mirror. "I'm the only thing that's different. Everything else is reflected the same."

"Interesting. So…" Simon stood up and walked behind River. "Do _I_ look-"

Once Simon was behind River, once she could see his reflection, she screamed louder than Simon remembered her screaming before. In a surprisingly fluid motion, River drove her elbow into the mirror, shattering it. With the same arm, she spun and hit him straight in the face with an open-handed strike. Simon fell to the ground like a sack of meat.

"…ow!" said Simon. "Why did-"

Simon stopped talking when he noticed that River's lucidity was gone. She was against the wall, huddling and shaking.

"Bad man, bad… scars like cracks in glass. Four eyes, four light eyes… dark man… two by two… hands of blue... two by two… hands of…" River looked up at Simon. "You…"

"River, I-" River seemed to withdraw into a shell of pain and madness. It seemed like Simon's voice was causing River to get worse, so he decided to not say any more.

"What the hell is going on down there?" It was the exact last person that Simon wanted to hear knocking at his door. Simon opened the hatch to find Jayne Cobb, in all his recently awakened, grumpy, shirtless glory, looking down on him.

"She's just having another episode."

"Yeah, but she don't ever scream like that! Inara could probably hear that, and she isn't even in the same ruttin' place!"

"What's going on down there, doc? She's not getting kidnapped, is she?" That was the captain. Malcolm Reynolds appeared at the top of the hatch as well, also in his sleepwear, though at least he was wearing a shirt.

"No, she isn't. Thank god for that." It was only a few weeks ago that a man invaded the good ship _Serenity_ in search of River, or more specifically, the money the Alliance would be paying for her return. They had managed to take him down, but the knowledge that people could and would break onto the ship during travel meant that nobody was sleeping easy. "She's just seeing things in the mirror."

"Well, that's what they're for, innit?" said Jayne.

"Is everything alright down here?" That was the voice of Zoe, the ship's first mate.

"Is anyone dead? I mean, if I saw a dead body here, that's certainly the sound I'd make." And that was Wash, the pilot and Zoe's husband. Sure enough, both of them appeared above Simon's room, also somewhat underdressed and a bit more disheveled in the clothing department.

"Well, if I'm drawing an audience, I might as well come up and talk to you," muttered Simon. He climbed up to talk with the growing crowd.

"Well? Is she okay?" said Mal.

Simon looked down on his sister below. She was still shaking, still muttering. "It'll be fine, I'm sure. I mean, this is the worst she's been in a while, but she'll be doing alright."

"Girl's scared of her own reflection!" said Jayne, chuckling a bit.

"Actually, she's scared of mine," said Simon, sighing. "Apparently, she's seeing the reflections of people who aren't there, instead of the people who are."

Simon looked down at River again. She seemed to be fine now. He watched her pick up one of the shards of the mirror, seemingly not caring how it cut into her hand, and looked at herself.

"What happened to your face?" asked Zoe. It was becoming apparent that Simon had a large, yellow bruise forming on the left side of his face, and a trickle of blood oozed from his nose.

"Oh, she sort of… hit me."

"She hit you?" said Mal. He seemed a bit surprised at that.

Not quite as much as Jayne, though. "Well, damn, is there anyone she won't attack now?"

"It was just a one-time occurrence. With any luck, it won't happen again," said Simon.

"Huh," said Mal. He turned to look at Zoe and Wash. "Weren't you two supposed to be keeping the ship running? Why are you two so underdressed?"

"Well, I mean," said Wash, looking back and forth from Mal to Zoe, "space can get pretty big. And cold. And lonely! I mean, sometimes, you just need to have a bit of company, you know…" He looked at Zoe, and the couple exchanged a smile. "Plus, it wasn't like we expected any interruptions. Not like they-"

"Enough," said Mal. "We're due in Persephone soon. Get dressed and get to work. Badger should be hailing us soon enough. Make sure the cargo is holding up."

"So strange…" said River. It took everyone a second to comprehend that the voice and the girl that came with it was right next to them.

"_Ta ma da!"_ exclaimed Jayne. "How does she do that?"

River ignored Jayne, and kept looking at the shard in her hands. She turned it so that she could see the reflections of each of the people in front of her, besides Simon.

"All the reflections are different…" she said. "Different faces. Different expressions. You give each other different looks in the mirror than you do here. They are different… so different… I need to show you. Not in the mirror, you can't see the mirror. Pen, pen, pen, I need a pen…"

And before the crew could comment, she had slipped back into Simon's room without making a sound. Zoe and Wash left, heading back to work.

"I ain't givin' her a gorram pen!" said Jayne. "She'd probably stab someone with it."

"Well, pardon any wrong assumptions, but I doubt that you'd even be able to write, much less have a pen," said Simon. "Besides, I think that I might have a pencil somewhere in my room."

The sounds of a room being torn apart in search of something specific started coming from Simon's bunk. Simon just sighed, knowing he'd have to clean up later, but not blaming her in particular. He knew better than anyone that she couldn't help herself.

"Well, everything's alright now," said Simon. "You can go about your business. Now, if you will excuse me, this is hurting a bit more than I thought it might, so I'm going to go and get some painkillers." Simon stumbled away, leaving the assembled crew rather confused.

* * *

The good captain Reynolds entered the bridge. He had gotten himself dressed, and so had Zoe. "How's everything up here?" said Mal.

"Sir, Badger just hailed us," said Zoe.

"Good. A bit earlier than what I expected, but good. Do I look presentable?" said Mal.

"Good enough for Badger, sir," said Zoe. For the two of them, that statement could mean any state of dress from anything they wouldn't call "fancy" to dirt and rags. For Mal's current appearance, though, it meant "slightly less orderly than usual". While Badger was the sort who would call the deal off if sufficiently insulted, he was also the sort who would do so if an Alliance goon looked at him funny. He wasn't trustworthy, and he was scum, but he gave them work. Mal didn't ask for more.

Mal sat himself in the pilot's chair and activated the video feed. On the other end was a poorly-dressed, unshaved rat in a hat that most folks would call Badger.

"Good mornin', Mal. God, you're a mess." That was Badger: most definitely the sort who would insult a man in his greeting.

"Badger. You're looking very nice. Did you get a new hat?"

"As a matter of fact, I did." Badger straightened the worn top hat he was wearing. Made him look more like a pompous lowlife than usual. "So, you 'ave the goods, I take it."

"Retrieval was simple enough," said Mal. "I'm personally not seeing why the price for these dogs is so big, truth be told. I mean, not that I'm saying you're paying me too much or anything."

"You kiddin'? These are some of the last pedigree Dalmatians in existence. And I don't know if you know this, but those are the only surviving ancestors of a purebred species from Earth-that-was. One of those dogs could buy an entire ship."

"Well, that's quite the value. And you're paying me how much?"

"Well, I figure that you wouldn't want to be involved in the whole business afterwards. Not that you'd be involved at all at this point."

"The dogs are as good as they were when I picked them up," said Mal, knowing that they had all sorts of inherent problems that the doctor blamed on lots of inbreeding.

"Oh, I don't doubt it," said Badger. "If there's anything you're good for, Mal, it's getting the goods from one place to another. It's the way you go about it that I'm not so fond of."

"Is there an issue? Don't tell me you're pinching us, Badger. We've had such a good track record."

"Well, the way I see it, since me new hat's put me in a fine mood, I've decided to be nice." Badger leaned forward. "Deal's off."

Mal blinked, not as surprised as he would have been since he started dealing with Badger. "You're telling me this now? Is that how you're being nice?"

"Mal, if I wasn't being nice, I'd 'ave let you walk through me doors and then sold you out to the Feds once my men surrounded you. You're a wanted man."

"Now, the dog heist went off without a hitch. We went to Beaumonde, and got the dogs and got out with a minimum of fuss. That's no small feat."

"Well, it was as clear as day. _Serenity_, a _Firefly-_class vessel, captained by one Malcolm Reynolds. Doesn't mention any dogs, but you do seem to 'ave a fugitive on-board. Simon Tam, so they say. Name ring any bells?"

Mal leaned back. He had no idea how the Alliance knew that his ship was containing a wanted man. A wanted man and a wanted woman, technically, but it seemed like they didn't know about the latter. "Heard of him. No idea where he is, though."

"Says he 'ad a sister, River, who's also a fugitive. Now, I've seen 'er picture, and I dare say I've met her before. Quite the fair maiden, if I do say so myself. Would hate to see 'er harmed." Badger smirked.

"So, how much are they paying for information on where I am?"

"Nothin'. Few minutes after I saw the information on the Alliance channels, it was gone from damn near everywhere. If I 'ad to guess, you've been blackbirded, mate."

Blackbirded. Mal had heard rumors of that happening – traders and thieves who angered powerful men from powerful families that go out for personal revenge – but he had thought that those were just stories. Zoe and Mal took a second to trade glances.

"Now, I'm a respectable businessman," said Badger, adjusting the coat he wore. "I don't deal wit' criminals. I also might've sent out an anonymous tip in the time you were a wanted man that you were landing in the docks near my establishment sometime soon. Either way, if I see you on me world, you're not goin' to be leaving it any time soon. And don't even _think_ of talkin' to Brightman."

"I completely understand. Well, I hope that we can still do business with you in the future," said Mal.

"If there's a future for you, Malcolm Reynolds, I don't see why not." Badger's screen went to static.

"_Qing wa cao de liu mang,_" muttered Mal. He wasn't mad at Badger, or how the deal went south. Mal fully expected Badger to deny him the pay he rightfully earned. It was Badger: that was simply what he did. In fact, he had set up a backup deal in case Badger flaked. It was that the Alliance knew that he was harboring a fugitive that worried him. Just because they've shut up doesn't mean they won't try to hold him down. Also, there didn't seem to be any way for them to know that Simon was on board. At least, none that he could think of.

"So, how's it going?" asked Wash, who was substantially more dressed than earlier.

"Badger backed out. Said we've been blackbirded," said Zoe.

"Well, of course he'd say that. That's one of the oldest tricks out there. Plan B?"

"Of course. Get us to Antenora," said Mal.

Wash and Mal traded places as Wash manned the helm, turning _Serenity_ towards another continent of Persephone. Mal turned on the intercom.

"Attention, crew. Due to the nature of a certain well-known rodent, we are to be landing in Antenora today. I know that there were certain deals that we wanted to get down at Eavesdown, but Badger's being ornery. I know that Brightman is paying a bit less than Badger would, and we've all heard what Jayne thinks of the man, but a deal's a deal. In addition, I want everyone not landing the ship in the dining hall in ten. There's a little something that needs discussing."

Mal turned the intercom off, but didn't immediately hail Brightman. He looked over at Wash. He thought that Badger was lying through his teeth. There was the option that he was, of course, but as far as Mal could tell, Badger had no other way of knowing about Simon. He decided to think more about it when the crew had gathered.

He hadn't worked with Brightman before, but from what he heard, he would pay as well as anyone. He also tended to work almost exclusively with representatives and middlemen, so when the face of a rather young and exceedingly pale man with bright white hair and dull red eyes appeared on the video feed, Mal was a bit surprised.

"Brightman, I presume?" said Mal.

"Indeed. I know that I do not deal with people personally, but that is simply because my condition-" he gestured to his face "-means I cannot leave my complex. Video conversations are perfectly acceptable."

"I'm glad to hear it. I'm letting you know that we are in business. Badger broke his promise."

Brightman chuckled slightly. "As I expected. I take it you have the dogs?"

"Yep. Five of them. One more than you expected, as I recall."

"Excellent. Now, I believe I was paying you per head. That means that you get…" Brightman turned to talk with another, and then turned back smiling. "Ah. Sixty thousand credits."

"_How shi sung chun!"_ said Mal, without a hint of sarcasm. "You are an excellent man, Brightman. I think that, with a man like you around, we won't have any more dealings with Badger in the future. Speaking of…" Mal thought about whether he should mention any of Badger's talk about the dog-to-starship price ratio or their rarity. "Never mind." No need to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Thank you for your business."

"Why thank me? You were the one that did all the work. I'm assuming it went well?"

"As well as a job like that's expected to go. Nobody died, nobody got shot." Well, nobody but the ship, but Brightman didn't need to know the finer details. "We should be landing in Antenora in about an hour. You'll have people to pick it up?"

"Of course."

"Well, that's good. Hey, seeing as Badger might be a little squirrely with the two of us having interaction, could you make sure that nobody ends up shot or arrested?"

"I'll do what I can. Anyway, I must be going. Business with other clients, you know. Good day, Mister Reynolds."

* * *

Simon opened the hatch to his room. Upon seeing the mess that was down there, he wished he had gone down straight away as opposed to going to grab some aspirin and talk to Kaylee.

Kaylee had heard the scream, no doubt, but she was too focused on _Serenity_'s engine to come down. After the "dog heist" went south, _Serenity_'s engine still had a few bits of anti-ship shrapnel stuck in her. Not enough to keep her down, but enough to make her, to quote Kaylee, "a bit tipsy". According to Kaylee, she needed to stay in the engine room to make sure that Serenity flew true.

Simon didn't buy it. He knew that Jubal Early did something to Kaylee. He didn't know what, exactly, only that it shook her to her core. The first time he tried to talk to her about it, it ended with Kaylee storming off angry. This time, he never mentioned it. It was mostly snippets of small talk until the captain made his announcement and broke the awkwardness. Considering his track record with saying the right thing to Kaylee, he figured not saying anything on the subject was best. But he knew that Kaylee was probably hiding down in her engine room when she heard the scream, trying desperately not to be heard.

But now, he was looking into his room, which looked utterly ransacked. Every drawer was opened and every bag moved.

And there was River, looking at herself in one of the shards of the mirror. As Simon made his way down into the room, he realized that he had a sheet of paper to one side of her that she was applying something quite red to with her fingertip.

"No pen?" asked Simon.

"No pen. Couldn't go look. Couldn't wait. Had to draw. The mirror needs to show something that exists in reality. I have to draw. Couldn't hold it in."

She held up what she was working on. It was a picture of a girl. If you ignored the fact that it was drawn on a page of a book in blood, it could have easily been put on display. For what was essentially fingerpainting, there wasn't a line out of place.

"That's a self-portrait. That is who I see in the mirror," said River.

Simon picked up the picture. It certainly wasn't River, but he felt like there was something to her that River also had. She had short disheveled hair, hurt eyes, and her mouth was slightly open. Simon also noticed that she had several small scars, and there was a spot on her temple that was more smeared with blood than the rest of the picture. Pain. That was it. She had the same pain inside her that he knew River had.

"This is the girl that you see instead of you?" said Simon.

"Yes. She's done, you can have her. Less red, can't work with red. Blood dries brown. Captain is brown. But Captain is blue. Simon is blue. Jayne is…" River laughed, but stopped abruptly. "Need a pen. An actual pen. And not red. Oil… oil is brown, brown is too earthy, too worn. They are new and shiny. Too new. Too unreal."

"Well, there's a pen on the fridge in the kitchen. The captain's said that we're all to meet down there, and I guess that includes us." Simon looked at the picture and the paper it was written on. "Is this the _Bible_?!"

"Shepard gave it to me a while ago. Only real paper I had for myself. Didn't want to draw on your stuff."

"But… I mean, thanks for not getting blood all over my papers, but… you don't draw on the Bible in blood! That's – River, I mean, I'm not really that religious, but I'm pretty sure this is blasphemy…"

"Captain calls. Ten is up." River grabbed the largest shard of mirror as well as a handful of similar pages, and made her way up the ladder with ease. "Captain is interesting, all blue and gold… he's brown in life but blue in the mirror… lots of metal and medal, but not as much mettle…"

Simon made his way partway up the ladder, looked back into his room, had a moment of dread for the clean-up that would follow, and finished climbing up.

* * *

The dining hall was usually the liveliest place on Serenity. People went there to eat, talk, and relax. At the moment, it was still decently lively, but that was because most of the crew was in the room. When the captain walked in, however, the room got a bit more serious.

"Alright, didn't get her personally, but Inara's been notified of the change in plans. Fortunately, she was in Antenora on her business already, so it won't be a hassle."

Privately, Mal was happy that he didn't have to tell Inara to change her plans in person. He was the only person who knew that Inara wasn't planning to stick around. He knew that some time, some day, he was going to have to leave her behind on New Melbourne, but that was a long way away, both with distance and with time. They both knew it, and she didn't like it. In the meantime, Inara still had a job to do, and while Persephone wasn't the most lucrative planet, it got the job done. Still, there was enough tension between them as is, and having things change unexpectedly was not something women were noted for being fond of.

Publically, anyone who was paying attention to Mal and Inara's interactions could see it, but the finer details were still obscured.

"So, why're we being called down? Something wrong with the dogs?" said Jayne.

"The dogs are fine, and Brightman is actually paying more for the dogs in total than Badger was, so everything there is good," said Mal.

"Shiny!" said Kaylee, smiling. "Good to see that all our hard work and bumps and bruises and damage are being rewarded something proper."

"It was one tiny little anti-aircraft turret! Are you still mad about that?" said Mal.

"Yep," said Kaylee, still smiling.

"Anyway," said Mal, "it was something that Badger brought up. He said that our ship was marked for arrest, but the charges vanished. He thinks we got blackbirded."

"Blackbirded? Pah!" said Jayne. "Just more of Badger tryin' to get out of payin' us."

"Now, any other day of, well, ever, I'd agree with you," said Mal. "But according to him, the Alliance is fully aware that we have a fugitive or two on our ship. Specifically, our good doctor, Simon Tam."

In an excellent example of timing, Simon and River arrived at the dining hall at that moment. All eyes went to them.

"What?" said Simon.

"You sure Badger isn't just saying that to get out of the deal, sir?" said Zoe.

"Perhaps. But that's still something a mite too serious to disregard," said Mal.

"I'm confused, what's going on?" asked Simon. River walked to the fridge, grabbed the nearby pen, and started drawing on one of the sheets of paper she had.

"According to Badger, the Alliance know you're on the ship," said Mal. He went and turned on the intercom for the dining hall. "Wash, everything good up there?"

"Looking through all sorts of things, sir," said Wash, over the radio. "Pretty heavy stuff. Oh, and ETA is about fifteen minutes."

"So…" said Simon, somewhere on the emotional road to either despair or a breakdown, "they've found me. They know I'm here."

"Except for the part where they aren't saying that they know," said Wash. "And I'm certain of that: not a single thing about us carrying you on the Cortex. In fact, there's not anything about you in the Alliance databanks, either. You're just gone."

"So…" said Simon, "we're not technically fugitives anymore?"

"Oh, no, she's still got a hefty price on her head. It's just you that's gone," said Wash.

"Well, that's… why is that?" asked Simon. The despair he had a second ago was quickly being replaced with confusion.

"I have no idea," said Wash. "And just so we're all clear, apparently we're on a perfectly legal ship with a perfectly non-criminal captain, according to the database."

"So… Simon's gone and gotten us blackbirded, is that it?" asked Jayne.

"Well," said Mal, "someone's changed their tune right quick, haven't they?"

"Hey, if Badger says he got blackbirded, that's just hogwash," said Jayne. "If the books say he ain't there no more, that puts a bit more value on the blackbirdin' idea."

"What does that even mean?" asked Simon. "Blackbird is a noun, why are you using it as some kind of verb?"

"Blackbirding," said Shepard Book, "is when a man on the run is taken off the books of the lawman because another party is paying them to stand back. It usually means that someone powerful enough to do so is going after them personally."

"Don't matter who it happened to," said Mal. "What matters is who could be doing it right now."

"And who could have told the Alliance about Simon," said Zoe .

"Yes," said Mal, "this does appear to be a two-part conundrum." He sat at the head of the dining table. "Any ideas on either front?"

"Could be Niska that's doing the blackbirding," said Zoe. "Definitely has a grudge, and he has a lot of resources."

"From what I know of Niska, I don't think he would do that," said Book. "He's the sort who would make his move when we are weak. It would be to his advantage to let the Alliance wear us down instead of calling them off."

"And," said Wash, "if he did blackbird us, we'd know, and everyone else would, too. Niska is very big with reputation. You send law away to catch one man, very scary, _very_ good for reputation," he said in a bad Russian accent. Everyone (besides River, who wasn't paying attention) laughed.

"Alright, that's one option. Any others for the blackbirding?"

"Two by two… hands of blue…" said River, calmly. Mal looked at River and noticed that she was looking in the mirror, right at him. "Two shepherds by day, two wolves by night. Wanting me, wanting to work on, to bend, to learn what to break. They wear black and blue. Black and blue, like a bruise, but only one has yellow, like a bruise" Her words were getting speeding up and slowing down at random, to the point where it was hard to understand what they were. "Scarred by what they have done. Made mistakes. Never again. An eye for an eye. Eye of blue, who are you…"

"What I _think_ she's trying to say," said Simon, "is that there might be people who don't want the Alliance involved because they want her. People from the Academy."

"Ain't they with the Alliance?" asked Jayne. "No good reason for them to be workin' against each other."

"Now, the Alliance has their share of callous types just as well as anyone," said Mal. "Don't want no damaged goods."

There was a second as the captain, as well as everyone else, realized the extra meaning of "damaged goods". There were shudders and sounds of revulsion all around.

"Oh god," said Kaylee, "I don't want to even think about…" She shuddered and turned away.

"If someone tried to rape me," said River, "they would fail." She looked up for a second. "I'd cut their junk off."

Somehow, that was even more disturbing. Jayne pointedly crossed his legs at the thought.

"Look, let's not get distracted by painful possibilities," said Mal. "Point is, if they want her intact, putting her in the custody of your average corrupt backwater sheriff ain't the way to do it."

"So, you think it's people from the Academy, then?" said Book.

"Don't see no better options," said Zoe.

"Great," said Wash, "the people from the mysterious government mad science department that we have no intel on who they are or what they can do. Always a good place to start."

"Now that we've got that settled," said Mal, "who could possibly know that I have fugitives on my ship?"

"Badger would know," said Simon. Mal looked at him with a bit of disbelief. "He and my sister bumped into each other last time when we were here. If I recall, you were off getting stabbed at the time."

"He did say something of the sort," said Mal. "So, it's possible that he sold us out, we got blackbirded, and then he went and told us when he found out he won't get paid. Sound about right?"

"Question: why did he tell us ahead of time, anyway?" asked Wash.

"He said he felt generous. Had a new hat," said Mal.

"I don't blame 'im," said Jayne. "New hat makes a man all sorts of happy."

"Besides, you can't shoot someone through a video feed," said Zoe. "Safety's a pretty big factor."

"Right," said Mal. "Wouldn't want to have his pretty face cut up, now, would he?"

"So…" said Simon. "Who would know that I'm here?"

"Well," said Wash, "frankly, it's not a small list. There's Saffron, anyone who saw your face on Canton and have the brain capacity to put it all together, those people who wanted to burn River at the stake-"

"Heh. Good times," said Jayne.

"Excuse me, I was talking," said Wash. "Anyway, there was that one guy that broke in while we were sleeping - what was his name?"

"Early," said Simon. "Ju-" Simon saw Kaylee look decidedly uncomfortable at his name, so he didn't say more.

"Right, that guy," said Wash. "I feel like I missed some, too. Either way, the list isn't that short."

"Shorter than you make it sound, Wash," said Mal. "Most of the backwater folk wouldn't have access to a most wanted list, and I haven't seen any posters with your pretty face on it. I personally left that bounty hunter in the middle of deep space, so I have my doubts that he'd return. Saffron..." Mal rested his chin on his fist. "She probably knows, and I don't doubt that she could. But there ain't a reason for her to do that when she could bag the reward herself… I don't know, I've never been good at reading womenfolk."

At that moment, River threw the drawing she had been working on up into the air and immediately started work on another drawing. The paper fluttered down and landed in front of Book. He picked it up and examined it.

"Oh…" he said. He raised an eyebrow. "River, who is this?"

"The captain," she said.

"River, I feel like this drawing may not be…" said Book.

Jayne looked over at the drawing and immediately covered his mouth and tried to hold back laughter. "_Wo bu shin wo dah yan jing_! Are you _trying_ to get punched in the mouth?"

Kaylee walked over to look at the drawing. You could tell when she saw it by the way she gasped and how her eyes got very, very wide. "_Lao tien fu!_ River, _please_ tell me that it isn't how you see the captain."

"I look at him with my eyes, and I see what you see," said River. "I look at him with my mirror, and I see what I draw."

"Well, she did hit me because of what I looked like," said Simon. He walked over to see the drawing. "And looking at _that_, I wouldn't doubt that she's seeing traits reversed in the mirrors."

"Well," said Zoe, also going over to see the drawing. That particular side of the table was getting quite crowded. "Oh yeah. That's the exact opposite of the captain." The crew unanimously nodded.

"Well, let me see it," said Mal. "I want to see my portrait."

"That sure as hell ain't you," said Jayne.

"Yeah, it isn't, is it?" said Kaylee. "I think it's the chin. This guy doesn't have the captain's chin. He has his smile, though."

"Gimme that," said Mal. He snatched the picture from Book and looked at it himself.

His jaw dropped. "_Wong ba duhn."_

It was… sort of Mal. Cover him from the upper lip down and he looked like the captain with a different haircut. But even without the different chin, it was incredibly and absolutely _not_ Malcolm Reynolds. Because, after all, there was no way in hell that he would ever be wearing an Alliance captain's uniform and look that proud. It even had a small nametag in brass: "Captain Malcolm Reynolds, _IAV Serenity_". His chest had several medals. The captain recognized them from some of the more lauded officers he'd seen: medals for valor, bravery, and for kicking lots of ass. Not only that, but he wore a shiny cross around his neck. He hadn't seen that cross in years…

"And that's _me_?" asked Mal.

"Yes and no," said River. "It's not personal; it's just what I'm seeing. Mirrors are reflecting different things, the things that shouldn't be reflected."

"Well, it's certainly a memorable image," said Mal.

"Hey, I can't quite see what you are all looking at," said Wash. "So I'm feeling left out here. Also, we're making landfall in ten minutes, so I'd advise getting a plan for that together."

"Right," said Mal. "Alright, Wash, Kaylee, get any supplies that we need. I know there's a few parts that need replacin', but don't go and buy them until we have the platinum from Brightman. Zoe, Jayne, you and I are making the deal with Brightman."

"No way," said Jayne. "I ain't dealin' with Brightman, or his men! Guy drinks the blood of rats, Mal! There's somethin' that just ain't right!"

"He's an albino, Jayne, not a vampire," said Wash.

"Now, if Jayne isn't willing to help make the deal," said Book, "I could help out with the heavy lifting, especially considering that our mule is still in need of repairs."

"Well, in that case, Jayne, you're going to be watching the ship until Inara gets back. After that, go and unwind a bit, but don't get too drunk and don't spend more than you need to."

Mal stood up and walked over to Simon. "Now, I know the law says that you ain't a criminal, but I'm sure a few people would recognize that you used to. You two are to stay low. Last thing we want is anyone trying to steal my ship's doctor."

"What do we do after we're done here?" said Zoe.

"Well, we take to the skies, and then we see where we go from there," said Mal.

* * *

If Persephone needed to be described in one word, that word would be "crowded". Even in a less populated and popular city like Antenora, the streets were packed with all sorts of people, and there were just as many sorts of ships in the skies above the docks and spaceports. Any sort of ship could dock there and go unnoticed in the traffic.

And, as _Serenity_ set itself down in the main spaceport of Antenora, its crew, or any other passer-by, did not notice a most interesting ship set down scarcely a kilometer away.

It was an Alliance destroyer, but a strange one. It had the same paint job as the standard destroyer, with all the proper emblems, markings, and similar details. It also was armed with a surprising amount of weaponry, especially on a ship that size – everything from missile batteries to laser cannons. The reason that it was so interesting was what it was based off of – a class-3 _Firefly_ transport ship. In fact, if you looked past the paint and the weaponry, it looked nearly identical to the _Firefly_ that landed a few seconds earlier.

And as _Serenity_ opened its cargo bay and let the crew loose to do their business, the _IAV Serenity_ opened its bay as well.

Two men walked out. One was pale, young, and clean-shaven; the other dark, older, and bearded. Both of them were scarred, and both of them wore long black coats and gloves of blue. One was known as Mr. Tam, and one was known as Mr. Evans, though to anyone in the 'verse, they had no names; they were simply Operatives.

The two of them were on a hunt for a specific girl. They knew not where she was, only that she was out there, somewhere. Maybe not in this city, or this planet, but somewhere.

The two men walked out and vanished into the crowd.

* * *

_**Author's Notes:**_ So, this is the first official chapter of the story. Don't worry, the two crew will meet soon enough. I hope that I captured the voices of each character adequately, and if I didn't, by all means, let me know.


	3. Chapter 2: Antenora

"Right, now that those two are off looking," said Cpt. Reynolds, "the rest of us can do something productive."

The crew of the _IAV Serenity_ stood in the cargo bay, looking at the not unfamiliar bustle of Antenora.

"You sure this is an alternate universe, sir?"

"I'm… relatively certain, Mr. Cobb. The Subject's word on these things is better than most."

Mr. Cobb stepped out and took a good look around. "Doesn't seem any different from the Persephone we know and love. Same crowds, same buildings, same sleaze."

"Well, maybe the world is more different than it may seem," said Cpt. Reynolds. "How about you go and look around, ask a bit, see what's the same and what isn't."

"Quite gladly, sir. I've wanted some fresh air for quite some time. Sure, this isn't like Ariel, but I suppose that will come sometime in the future." Mr. Cobb bowed. "Good day to you, captain."

"God be with you, Mr. Cobb," said Cpt. Reynolds, returning the bow.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Kaylee.

"Well," said Cpt. Reynolds, "I was thinking we should get more supplies. That formation took a toll on our electronics. You have a list of what we need, Kaylee?"

"Of course I do." Kaylee pulled a sheet of paper from inside her shirt and handed it to the captain.

"Great. Zoe, you and me are goin' shopping," said Cpt. Reynolds. "Sgt. Washburn, watch the Cortex, see what you can find from there. Kaylee, do whatever repairs you can with what we have."

Kaylee kept smiling, but gave the captain a look.

"What about me, sir?"

Truth be told, Cpt. Reynolds had forgotten about Hex. Well, she was Subject 06, but this was how she was when she wasn't "active". She didn't seem to remember what her name was, so the crew called her "Hex", what with her being both Subject 06 and doing things that, in a less advanced world, would certainly be called spells. She was normal as could be – for now.

"Hex, you can go and wander a bit," said Cpt. Reynolds. "I'm sure there's all sorts of things to enjoy. Just don't get swindled, and don't get yourself in trouble."

"Sure thing, sir," said Hex. "God be with you." She wandered off into the crowd.

"And also with you," said Cpt. Reynolds. "I knew I liked that girl for a reason." Sgt. Washburn rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of swindling people…" said Kaylee, "Inara, what are you going to be up to?"

Inara gave Kaylee a look. "I'd like to think of myself as more than just a swindler. As for what I'll be up to, I figure I'd be looking around as well, maybe gather information in my own way."

"That sounds like an excellent plan," said Cpt. Reynolds. He walked over to her and grasped her hand. "Don't get yourself into too much trouble, alright?"

"Of course she won't," said Zoe, pulling the captain away and giving him a glare. "She's perfectly capable of… doing what she does."

"Hey, I know it's sort of breaking a Commandment or two," said Cpt. Reynolds, "but you have to admit, she's incredibly good at what she does."

"Uh-huh," said Zoe. "Try not to get shot, alright, honey?"

"I'll do my best," said Inara. She bowed and headed off to do her work.

"God be-" Cpt. Reynolds was grabbed by Zoe before he could finish.

"If you say that one more time, I'm going to stab you. C'mon, Malcolm, we're going shopping," said Zoe. She dragged him off towards some shops.

Kaylee looked at Sgt. Washburn. "Was it ever that bad for you, with her?"

"She's just jealous," said Sgt. Washburn. "Of course she'd want her little _ta ma de jia wei haoyu _all to herself."

"Wow," said Kaylee, almost stunned. "When did you become such an asshole?"

"I picked it up while getting abandoned in a torture dungeon. You might want to try it some time. I'll be on the bridge if you need me."

Sgt. Washburn walked back into the ship, leaving Kaylee alone at the entrance to the cargo bay.

"If I could do any work with the products that I had," she said to herself, "I'd have done them already." She went and grabbed a lawn chair stored near the door, set it out, and watched the people pass by.

* * *

"Wow, is that what you guys were getting all freaked out over?" said Wash.

He and Kaylee were walking through the streets of Antenora, looking at all the things they needed to get – electronics, engine parts, that sort of thing. At the moment, though, Wash was looking at a drawing.

"Yeah. River drew it. She said it was what the captain looked like when she looked in the mirror."

"This isn't the captain," said Wash. "Well, maybe a little. But it has so much that _isn't_ the captain. It's like the anti-captain. It's like if we were in a universe where everything was backwards, that would be our captain."

"Maybe…" Kaylee took a second to look at the wares of a stall selling small secondhand engine parts before continuing on. "There's nothing good here! All this stuff is either overpriced or a bunch of _fei wu_. At least on Eavesdown there'd be at least something good and cheap."

"Well," said Wash, "Eavesdown wasn't any better, I'd say. Antenora just has less, that's all. Less people, less options, but about the same level of quality. And it's just a bit more quiet."

Kaylee and Wash walked past a pair of Alliance men who looked like they meant business. "Not the good sort of quiet," said Kaylee.

They took a right and started walking past several stores selling compression coils, wiring, circuitry, and other electronic parts.

"Let's see," said Kaylee, looking at the sales as she passed them, "can't afford, don't need, don't need, junk, can't afford, junk, junk, way overpriced-"

"Yeah, we're not in the best place to buy things, I'll give you that," said Wash. "I heard Antenora is better for dresses, food, jewelry-"

"The sort of stuff we can't afford?" said Kaylee.

"Well… yeah." They took a left, into a wider street packed with people and selling hardware. "The dogs will get us a lot more money, though. Even if the captain is walking headfirst into a trap."

"What?" said Kaylee. "He said that Brightman was good! So what if Jayne thinks he's a vampire?"

"He was just too damn nice," he said. "Nobody in the 'verse is that nice unless they're either paid to be or they're getting you in trouble. Not to mention that he managed to become a viable buyer in less than a month with Badger breathing down his neck."

"Wash, it's on the other side of the planet," she said. "You can't 'own' a planet all to yourself. Moon, sure, but not a planet."

"Hey, from what I've seen, Badger dreams big," he said. "Still doesn't make this seem like any less of a trap."

"Okay, well, I trust the captain on this one," she said. "He can handle it, I'm sure. If it's a trap, then it's a trap. Mal's gotten us out of plenty of traps before."

"But traps tend to lead to people getting kicked in the head, or shot, or other _fun_ things before we're out of them," he said. "We could just skip the trap altogether for once. Wouldn't that be nice?" Kaylee and Wash took another left, entering another set of docks, this one with less shops and more ships.

"Well, yeah, of course it would. But I don't know if the captain likes it that way. He likes finding out who's against him by getting a gun pointed at him and seeing who has… their…"

Kaylee trailed off, distracted. As she and Wash walked down the square, she found herself unconsciously walking away from him and towards the most strange and interesting ship she had ever seen.

* * *

"Well, of course it's a trap," said Mal. "There ain't a person in the 'verse who acts like that unless they're making a buck off it."

He, Zoe, and Book were making their way through the streets of Antenora. Mal and Book were carrying a large crate covered in a tarp, while Zoe was keeping watch. Occasionally, the crate barked.

"It's just that you seemed to walk right into it, sir," said Zoe.

"I _am_ walking right into it," said Mal. "I'm just knowing that it's going to spring somewhere along the line."

"I must say, captain," said Book, "this is an interesting way to handle a trap. Personally, I would avoid the trap in the first place."

"Well, let me put it this way," said Mal. "There is the chance, small as it is, that Brightman's being honest. If he is, we make the deal, no traps, and everyone walks away happy. Now, if there is a trap, we make the deal, find the trap later, get out of it, and then come back and look clever for getting out of it."

"But we look real stupid going into it," said Zoe.

"We don't look _that_ stupid," said Mal. "Keep your eyes peeled, we're meeting them in a place called… that one right there."

"Odd name-" said Book.

"No, we're meeting him in that shop right there. The abandoned-looking restaurant with the sign with the moon on it."

The three of them brought the crate inside the shop and set it down. There was a disheveled, probably homeless man inside. When they entered, he looked at them, took a look under the tarp, and then walked into the back room.

"You still think this isn't a trap, sir?" said Zoe.

"Let it play out," said Mal. "If someone points a gun at us, shoot them, okay?"

A little bit later, a tall, burly man with thick eyebrows came out of the back, flanked by a pair of men with guns.

"Hello! You may call me Vladimir. You are vorking vith Brightman, are you not?" His accent was twice as thick as his eyebrows. "Ah! I recognize you from ze intel. You are Malcolm Reynolds! Zat vould mean zat you haf zhe dogs?"

"Take a look for yourself," said Mal. The man removed the tarp, revealing five Dalmatians in a crate that could comfortably hold three.

"Ah, zere zey are!" said Vladimir. "Zey… do not look so good. But zere are no cuts, no vounds… zese are problems zat you are not responsible for. Brightman vill be pleased."

"Good to hear. Do you have the payment?" said Mal.

"Ah, of course! Brightman is a man of his vord." He took two sacks of coin from his belt and gave them to Mal. "Plus, ve are giving you a bonus. Brightman's vater, he owns ze biggest fuel supply company on Persephone. A ship always needs to be fuelled, so he has arranged a delivery of three tanks of fuel, free of charge."

Mal and Zoe both raised an eyebrow. "That's very kind of him," said Zoe, "but I'd like a bit of proof that this bonus is what he says it is."

"But of course! You haf every right to be skeptical. Valter! Ze fuel!"

The homeless man they saw when they first arrived entered, dragging in a large barrel that sloshed. Vladimir opened the lid, revealing that it was full of a relatively clear liquid.

"See?" said Vladimir. It looks like fuel, it smells like fuel…" He took a ladle from the counter, scooped out some of the liquid, and lit it on fire. It burned bright white for a second before the fire went out on its own. "It even burns like fuel!" He poured the rest of the fuel back into the barrel. "Now, zis barrel, you haf to take back to your ship on your own. Ze other two, vell, Brightman is arranging ze delivery as ve speak. It should be on your ship by ze time you return."

"Good to hear," said Mal. "Now, we'll be going, if that's all right."

"Of course! I vish you luck in your travels."

Book went to pick up the barrel of fuel, and he, Mal, and Zoe left the abandoned restaurant.

"Oh yeah," said Mal. "This is _definitely_ a trap."

* * *

Kaylee hadn't seen a ship quite like it before in her life. It was a _Firefly_ – no doubt about that, with the engine in the back – but it didn't quite look right. For one, it was painted up like an Alliance vessel, even though the Alliance could certainly afford something better. It also had a good amount of weapons on it – turrets, missiles, that sort of thing - which made it all the more mysterious. It was certainly shiny, but it didn't quite look right. Not just because it was a _Firefly_ dressed and armed like an Alliance warship, but… Kaylee didn't quite place what was unusual with the ship, but something was off about it.

So distracted was Kaylee with analyzing the ship, that she was only stopped from walking into the ship by someone nearby saying "Hey!"

"What…" said Kaylee. "Oh. Oh! Oh my god, I'm sorry! I just got- is this yours?"

Kaylee, not as distracted, took a better look at who stopped her. It was a woman currently seated in a chair in front of the ship. She had long black hair, relatively Oriental features, and bright eyes. She stood up, and she was tall and rather shapely. She wore a tight dark brown jumpsuit and a leather coat. "I'd call it as much. I'm not the captain, but I keep it running."

"Oh? It's so… shiny, though," said Kaylee. "Looks like everything would run perfect."

"Oh…" said the woman, "she'd surprise you. You look quite interested in her. You like ships?"

"Yeah, they're just so fascinating. They all have stories," said Kaylee. "What's hers?"

"Well," said the woman, smiling without earnestness, "she's a _Firefly_. Well, she _was_. Mark-03."

"Oh! But, uh, isn't that a Mark-04 engine on the back? Could've sworn that-"

"Yeah, it is. She can go twice as fast and twice as far, and with half of the fuel. Not to mention all of the other tricks she has up her sleeve. But it's kind of a crapshoot."

"Oh? Why?" asked Kaylee.

"Well, take a closer look," said the woman. "See this engine right above us?" Kaylee nodded. "Actually from a _Falchion_-class gunship."

"No…" said Kaylee, in awe.

"Yeah. Most of the wiring in her is actually from a few different ASREV's, as is the armor. Windows are from a _Warhammer_ interceptor – couldn't break those if you rammed it at full speed. Atmo's a modified version of what's in a _Thunderbird_, and I couldn't tell you where we got these guns. Basically, she's the best of everything the Alliance has to offer in one package."

"Wow…" said Kaylee, impressed. "And it all runs together?"

"Nope!" said the woman, smiling sarcastically. "And that's why they need me. If I'm not micromanaging it, the main engine starts taking air from the secondary atmo feed and uses it as fuel, while the smaller engines start to lag when you give them commands. I don't _think_ it'll set all the ship's air on fire after a while, but I haven't tried it."

"But couldn't you just… well, I haven't really gotten intimate with anything but a _Firefly_, with standard _Firefly_ parts," said Kaylee. "You must be a pretty good mechanic, to be able to handle all those parts at once."

"Hey, if I wasn't the best, I wouldn't work on this thing. I consider her to be a challenge. Captain says to keep her running better than anything, so that's what I do. Captain says to make it look shiny and orderly, then she looks like the Alliance actually makes _Firefly_-class gunships."

"Why is she a _Firefly_, anyway?" asked Kaylee. "Lot of ships in the 'verse that would be better fighters than one."

"Captain always knew that they would outlast you with a decent mechanic. Of course, when there's barely any _Firefly_ in her, that doesn't apply." The woman was smiling, but her eyes had more annoyance than anything else. "Yeah, the captain's not that great of a man, really. Certainly has zeal, but not much else."

"Well…" said Kaylee, "I don't suppose he'd be willing to let me have a tour?"

"Ha. I don't _think_ he'd mind, but there are others who would. It's kinda classified, but you'd probably be shot or worse."

"Oh…" said Kaylee. "Well, that's still a great ship, though. Fantastic work."

"Thank you," said the woman. "You're a mechanic as well, right? Got to be, with how much you love ships like this one. Have a ship to take care of?"

"Yeah. Also a _Firefly_, but she's not as new as yours is. Lots of used parts, but nothing shiny. Plus, she's been shot up, and we haven't quite been able to fix her up."

"Oh. Neat," said the woman. She looked from the ship to Kaylee. "Hey, I'm sorta bored here. Sounds like your ship might need someone who knows what to do when a ship's been shot. Mind if I go and look at her?"

"Well," said Kaylee, "I… sure, I don't really see why not. But if the captain asks you to leave, you better listen. He's not too keen on people poking around his ship."

"I don't mind that," said the woman. "Let's get to it, then."

* * *

The streets of Antenora were a place where anyone could walk and not be noticed, assuming that nobody wanted to notice you. That made it the perfect place to make shady deals, draw away people to never be seen again, or just outright rob them. Of course, if your line of work required someone to notice you, that was possible, provided you could shout loud enough.

Nobody cared about a certain woman who walked through the streets at that moment. In any other circumstance, all eyes would be on her curves, her eyes, her beautiful red hair – and that wasn't including the high chance of her running into someone who she had met, romanced, and left penniless. Here, though, she was another face in the crowd, and she liked it that way. If she was going to be noticed here, it was going to be by her mark, and that was it.

The big man with the bigger eyebrows, however, was not someone who she wanted to be noticed by, and certainly not be pulled aside by.

"What do you think you're doing?" said the woman.

"I vas going to ask you ze same question!" said the man. "You are supposed to be elsevhere, are you not, Johanna? Zat is your name, yes?"

It wasn't, but if that's what he thought, then that's what it was. She didn't quite know what he was getting at, but if she was already at work, it just made things that much easier. "Yes, of course it is." No reason to act coy when talking with someone she wasn't planning on robbing.

"If zat is so, zhen vhy are you not with Brightman's other men? Ve vere to provide you vith a vay onboard ze ship, vere ve not?"

"Of course," she said. "I must've missed one of the deadlines."

"Yes, definitely," he said. "Ze plan vas for you to hide in ze barrels of fuel zhat ve gave him for free, have it be taken onto zheir ship, und zhen you vould do vhatever you vanted vith zhem."

"Not the way I'd usually get onto the ship…" she said.

"Hey, you paid us for our assistance. If you do not vish to go through, no problem. Brightman did not vish to scam Malcolm Reynolds, but you certainly _convinced_ him, or so I heard."

The woman didn't have any idea who either of those people were. "In that case, I suppose I should find him, then. Mr. Reynolds, that is."

"I believe zhat his ship is at one of ze docks. It is called ze _Serenity_, though I may be vrong. Old _Firefly_ vessel, not used much anymore, or so I've heard."

The name of that ship was familiar to the woman, though calling it "old" wasn't. "In that case, it seems like I have an appointment to catch."

She slipped away into the crowd before the man could respond.

This was an interesting situation. She didn't have it happen often where she ended up on a job accidentally, especially when it seems like she was the one behind the job. But she supposed that she could get some money out of it. Captain wouldn't like her running off like this without her knowing, but cash is cash, and it sounded fun. It seemed like there was a ship that needed catching.

* * *

After Inara had returned from doing her Companion duties and could make sure that Simon and River stay safe, the first thing that Jayne went and did was find a saloon. Relaxing, getting fairly drunk, maybe starting a good fight, all of those sounded good. Problem was, his favorite bar in Persephone was on the other side of the planet. On the other hand, since he hadn't been to Antenora, he hadn't been barred from any of its establishments for starting fights or getting rowdy. Jayne, not feeling picky, entered the first establishment that didn't have a bouncer.

There was a decent crowd, a bit of live music, and not a single Alliance man in sight. Just the thing Jayne was looking for. Jayne headed straight for the bar and got himself some cheap beer. However, he entered had started a new song, and when Jayne realized what song they were playing, he spat his beer right out again, because the song was one that was all too familiar.

"_Our love for him now, ain't hard to explain! The hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne!_"

Jayne sat in silent astonishment as the band played "Hero of Canton", his own personal theme tune. The crowd didn't seem to be all too receptive on the matter. Jayne figured that they've never heard of him or of Canton before, which made the band's song choice all the more peculiar.

In fact, besides Jayne himself, only one person seemed to care. He was sitting next to Jayne at the bar, and he was listening intently. Definite nancy boy - guy had a face certainly mistakable for a girl, with long hair, high-class clothes, and a very nice hat - something not unlike a black _douli_. Jayne wasn't exactly sure what a guy like that would be doing in this sort of establishment.

"This is an interesting song," said the man. "You don't hear of too many men being lauded as heroes in this day and age." He rested his chin on his hand. "I don't know if I like it."

"How couldn't you?" asked Jayne. "This is quality entertainment right here!"

"Oh? What makes you say that?" said the man.

"Because," said Jayne, smiling, "it's about _me_."

"I... see..." said the man, looking slightly confused.

Eventually, the song was over. A few people gave it applause, but all of them combined didn't clap as voraciously as Jayne did. The bartender and the nancy boy both gave Jayne annoyed looks.

"Now," said the singer, "it isn't often that you get to find a good song about heroes nowadays. I reckon a song like that one is a bit of a rarity in the 'verse. But I've been to Canton once. It's a bad place. You'd have to be captured by Reavers before you're worse off than the mudders of Canton. I guess that's why they need a man like Jayne to idolize."

"Now, hold on a shecond!" A man who certainly had too much to drink stood up, stumbled to the stage, and took the microphone away. "Now, I know a man called Jayne. Cobb, yeah, Jayne Cobb. I met him... and he'sh an _asshole!_ Jayne Cobb is one-" The man started saying some long and probably vulgar phrase in Chinese, but it was slurred to the point of incomprehensibility. "But I can tell you one thing for shertain. Jayne Cobb is a lying shcumbag who ish the exshact opposhite of a hero. He'sh an no-good rotten uncultured... _dick._"

Jayne was about to get up and teach this drunk a lesson, but the nancy boy beat him to it.

"Your words are slander and your mind is deluded," said the nancy boy. "Stop saying your lies at once."

"Oh yeah?" said the drunk. "Or what?"

"I doubt you'd like to feel the consequences," said the nancy boy.

"Oh yeah? Prove it! Come at me, pretty boy!" said the drunk, putting his fists into something vaguely resembling a boxer's stance.

The nancy boy set his hat down on the bar, got up, walked through the crowd, and got on-stage. The drunk took a swing. The nancy boy grabbed his wrist, took a calm step forward, and then effortlessly flipped him over. The drunk hit the stage hard and was out for the count. Jayne and the crowd were stunned into silence.

"Now," said the nancy boy, "I know that knocking a man out is a good way to start a fight in a bar such as this one. I know they can be entertaining, but I'm not in the mood for a fight. If you want to have one, be my guest, but I will not be taking part in it."

He walked back to his seat, picked up his hat, put it on, and headed out. Jayne followed him.

"Hey, why did you do that?" asked Jayne.

"Oh?" The nancy boy stopped. "He said things that simply weren't true, and I wasn't going to stand for it."

"But, I mean, maybe they were a little true, but still, you don't see people do that very often, defendin' another man's name like that."

"What do you mean, 'another man's name'? He spoke untruths about my name, and I showed him that that was unacceptable."

"No, I think - wait, _your_ name?" Jayne was considering punching this guy out at some point, but after seeing the drunk, he wasn't sure if he should.

"Yes, _my_- oh, wait a second. You said they were singing about you, right? The man they call Jayne?"

"Well, yeah!" said Jayne, proudly. "Ain't nobody the people of Canton love more than Jayne Cobb."

"So, you're... oh my. Good lord, you have the goatee and everything," said the nancy boy.

"Well, who are you, then, punching people out for insulting..." Jayne was starting to put two and two together, and he was getting even more confused.

"Now, I really must be going," said the nancy boy. "Talking to you has certainly been... enlightening, to say the leasts. So long, Jayne Cobb." He said Jayne's name like it sounded weird for him to call him that. The nancy boy walked off, while Jayne stood there still trying to make sense of the matter.

"...who the hell was that?"

* * *

River never stopped drawing. When Inara came to check on her and Simon after she arrived, River had finished her fifth drawing and was working on her sixth. She was on one of the catwalks on the cargo bay, surrounded by some of her drawings.

Once Inara got close enough to River, she stopped drawing, picked up a bloodstained shard of mirror, turned it so that she could see Inara in it, and stared intently at it.

"_Crocus sativus_," said River. "A familiar face. Doesn't make sense. If everyone else is different, why is she someone so familiar."

Inara looked at Simon. He just shrugged. "She's seeing the reflections of different people in the mirror. They seem to reflect traits of personality instead. I'm still not sure about the whole thing."

He picked up a picture and gave it to Inara. "This one's a self-portrait."

Inara looked at it intently. "I can certainly see the resemblance. More on an emotional level than a physical one. Pain... sadness... I know several artists that would sell their souls to be able to convey emotion like this."

"Well, take a look at this one, then," said Simon. He picked up another drawing. "She made this one after taking a few glances hours ago."

He handed Inara the drawing, this one in black ink as opposed to red. It was only a little bit worse than the other drawing. It was a woman, light-haired and distinctly Caucasian.

"Who is this supposed to be?" asked Inara.

"I _think_ it's supposed to be Zoe," said Simon. "That one kind of scares me. She's smiling, but she looks like she's just waiting to kill you."

Inara analyzed the picture's expression. "I see what you mean. I don't think this looks much like Zoe at all."

"It's not _supposed_ to," said River. "It's the reflection in the broken mirror. Black is white and white is black."

"Right, yes," said Simon. He picked up a third drawing, this one of a young black man. "This one is Wash, isn't it?" River nodded and went back to drawing. "It seems for Wash and Zoe, their ethnicities are flipped around. Really, when you get around to all the differences, it's pretty interesting. Look at this one.

Simon handed Inara yet another drawing, this one of a woman. "She's very pretty," said Inara. "Is this supposed to be Kaylee?"

"Actually," said Simon, "that's _Jayne_."

"Really?" said Inara, her eyebrows raising. "Well, I suppose it is a girl's name..."

"It's sort of unfortunate that they took the drawing of the captain," said Simon. "That's someone who looks nothing like he does in reality."

The smile that Inara had when she walked in faded. "Hard to tell sometimes, with all the faces he puts on."

"Well, I believe he's never dressed himself up like an Alliance official and worn a big metal cross on his chest, has he?" said Simon.

"Well... he certainly hasn't, that much I can say," said Inara. "Who is she-"

Inara was cut off by the sound of the ship's airlock opening.

As Simon pulled River somewhere less obvious, Inara remained to see who it was.

"And this is the cargo bay. About as spacious as anyone could hope for." That was Kaylee. Inara wasn't aware that she had even left.

"Well, my ship doesn't really have much of a cargo bay anymore. Mostly we hold weapons in there." That was from someone altogether different. She was taller than Kaylee and dressed in dark clothes.

"Oh, well, that's... interesting," said Kaylee. She looked up and saw Inara. "Hey!"

"Hey," said Inara. "I see you brought a friend."

"Oh, she's just a mechanic. She's just here to help fix the issue we've been having with the engine."

Kaylee's friend looked at Inara and furrowed her brow slightly. "Haven't we met?"

"I do not believe so," said Inara. "We don't have many guests on _Serenity_. Mostly just passengers."

Kaylee's friend nodded. "_Serenity_? That's the ship's name?"

"Well, yeah," said Kaylee. "I didn't pick it, Captain did."

"Alright!" Speak of the devil. Mal walked up the ramp, and Zoe, Book, and Wash weren't far behind. Book and Wash were carrying a large barrel that they set down quickly. "We should have two brand new fuel canisters in here somewhere. Gift from Brightman. Nobody touches any of these tanks until we know what's in them." Mal started walking up the stairs, but stopped and backtracked when he passed by an unfamiliar face. "And who are you?"

"Oh, I'm just helping fix the ship up. Your mechanic thought it needed a bit of help. Frankly, with how she looks, I don't blame her."

"Hey," said Mal. "You ain't much older than Kaylee yourself. Don't go acting so hypocritical."

Kaylee's friend raised an eyebrow. "Kaylee?"

"Kaylee." River had appeared on the catwalks above everyone else. "Kaylee Frye. Kaywinnet Lee Fry."

Most of the people in the cargo bay looked up as River went back to drawing. Nobody looked nearly quite the same as Kaylee's guest, though. She was almost stunned with confusion.

"How do you know my name?" she asked.

"But... that's _my_ name," said Kaylee, also getting confused.

"Wait, your name's Kaylee?" asked Mal. The stranger nodded. "Did you know this?" he asked Kaylee. The one he knew best, not the stranger.

"No, sir. Never got her name until now."

"Mal!" Jayne was making his way hastily up the entry ramp. "I just ran into the strangest man. Looked like a girl, but he had my name! Mine! Another Jayne Cobb! He even beat up a man for besmirchin' my good name!"

"Wait..." said the stranger. "He didn't happen to have a hat on, did he? Black, pointy, something like that?"

"Yeah, he did!" said Jayne. " Finest hat I've seen, besides my own. Wait, who are you?"

"That's something we're figuring out," said Mal. "Something about her ain't adding up."

"Wait..." said the stranger who was getting more and more mysterious. "Mal? Like, Malcolm? As in, Cpt. Malcolm Reynolds?"

"Yes," said Mal. He felt his hand start to hover over his holster, just in case.

"And this is the _Serenity_..." said the stranger. "Oh no." She laughed. "I can't believe it. I really can't believe it. _Tzao gao..._"

And with almost a flourish, River finished her latest drawing and threw it into the air. It fluttered down from the catwalks like a leaf on the wind. Mal caught it.

"_Wo bu shin wo dah yan jing..._"

He looked from the stranger to the drawing and back again.

They were a perfect match.


	4. Chapter 3: Discussion

_**Author's Notes: **_Hey, sorry for the delay between posting this part and posting the last one. I got hit with a double whammy of a lack of inspiration and an intense desire to not do it. Here's the next bit, and I hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

The shuttle was as good of a place to do a bit of interrogation as any. The woman who called herself Kaylee had been seated in the pilot's chair. Jayne wanted to tie her down, but Mal vetoed that plan. However, he did let Jayne help Book out with the questioning. Book brought nothing but a kind smile and a sheet of paper into the shuttle. Jayne brought a knife.

"Ah," said "Kaylee". "Good cop, bad cop. This should be fun."

For someone who was being unwillingly held and being questioned, "Kaylee" seemed unusually confident. She sat in the pilot's chair like she was the one running the place and grinned with an almost mischievous look in her eyes.

"Now, Ms. Frye - do you mind if I call you that?" asked Book.

"No, not at all," said Ms. Frye. "So, how is this going to work out, exactly? This seems a bit haphazard of an interrogation."

"This is not an interrogation," said Book. "You are simply a person of interest. I am going to ask you a few questions, that's all. After that, you are free to go."

"What about him?" asked Ms. Frye, gesturing towards Jayne.

"I'm just here to ensure all the questions get answered," said Jayne.

Unbeknownst to Ms. Frye, the shuttle's video feed was covertly broadcasting, and most of the rest of the crew were on the bridge watching the questioning. Unfortunately, most of the view was covered up with the back of Ms. Frye's head and chair.

"So, that's who Kaylee looks like, then, in your weird mirror world?" asked Mal.

"Yes," said River. "I looked into the mirror, and I saw Kaylee and Kaylee."

"We need to give this woman some sort of moniker," said Wash. "I mean, we already have a Kaylee, and a Ms. Frye, and all of the other names."

"Well, Ms. Frye works for now," said Mal. "Now, shh. It's starting."

"Now," said Book, looking at the sheet of paper for reference. "What is your name?"

"Kaylee Frye," said Ms. Frye. "Like what that girl said."

"Yes. And the ship you work on is called?"

"_Serenity_."

"Now, you mentioned a Captain Malcolm Reynolds. He is the captain of your ship?"

"Yeah," said Ms. Frye. "Alliance man to the core. Unlike what I've been seeing _your_ Malcolm Reynolds wear."

"I see," said Book. "What other people are on this ship? You know, pilots, doctors, people for, ah, 'personal relations', that sort of thing."

"Well..." said Ms. Frye, "there's Sgt. Washburne. He's the pilot. We get along fine enough. Complete asshole, though. Got worse after he and his wife got divorced."

"Divorced, you say?" said Book. "Sounds like an interesting story."

"It is, kind of. Washburne and the captain get captured and tortured, Zoe - his wife - comes in, chooses the captain without hesitation, and leaves Washburne to die. We only came back because I convinced the two of them that nobody else could fly the ship. We get Washburne back, first thing he does is deck the captain and take us to Londinium to file a divorce. Of course, he has to fly the ship, and she's not leaving the captain any time soon, so that's certainly fun."

"Interesting. If you would, tell us more about this 'Zoe'," said Book.

"Well, she's pretty, I guess," said Ms. Frye. "Not to mention a bit of a psycho. Worked with the captain during the war. Covert ops. She's like a ninja. Oh, and she loves the captain. Like, _loves_ the captain. A lot more often after the divorce."

"Is it a good thing that I can't see that happening at all?" said Kaylee. "Zoe and the captain, I mean."

"It doesn't work," said Zoe. "It's just mostly unsettling. Apparently, her captain finds that less so."

"Now," said Jayne, "what's this about a Jayne Cobb? Think I might've met the guy."

"Jayne Cobb..." said Ms. Frye. She sighed, and she was an inch from swooning. "Captain hired him as a merc a while ago, but eventually he joined the crew. He's for public relations. I've never met a more charming man. He's straight out of a book."

"Did I hear her describe Jayne as 'charming'?" said Simon. "That just sounds... wrong."

"Hey, if I'm an Alliance man, Jayne can be charming," said Mal.

"Well," said Book, "has this ship been carrying passengers lately?"

"Hmmm..." said Ms. Frye. "Well... should I... ah, what the hell. Promise not to tell anyone I'm telling you this?"

"Trust me," said Book. "The three of us are the only people who will know what you say in here."

"Alright," said Ms. Frye. She leaned forward. "Our ship has been commandeered by two agents of the Alliance. Operatives. They... aren't nice people. Plus, they've brought along a living weapon."

"A living weapon?" said Book and Mal at the same time. "Do we have a living weapon? Besides Jayne?" asked Mal.

"We..." said Simon. He looked at River, drawing harmlessly by Simon's feet. "Let's hear what she has to say."

"Well, according to Mr. Tam," said Ms. Frye, "we call it Subject 06. But since she looks like a human, the rest of us call her Hex. She's... let's just say she can kill you with her brain."

Jayne shuddered at that. Book seemed surprised and unnerved as well.

"Back up for a second," said Book. "You mentioned a Mr. Tam?"

"Yes. Mr. Tam and Mr. Evans. That's what they call themselves."

"Evans?" said Jayne. "I don't know nobody named Evans. Do you, preacher?"

"The name... rings a bell," said Book.

"But you know a Mr. Tam?" said Ms. Frye.

"Yes, we do," said Book. "What is he like, Mr. Tam?"

"Ugh." Ms. Frye stopped smiling and looked disgusted. "I hate that man. He's scary and cruel and he treats Hex worse than some men treat their slaves - and at least they consider slaves to be human. Goes around with his blue hands and thinks he can do... whatever he wants with a woman."

At the mention of blue hands, River stopped drawing and looked up.

"Two by two, hands of blue," she said. "Don't draw them. Bad luck. They don't like pictures of them."

"And I'm one of these agents... you know, I'm starting to see why she hit me," said Simon.

"Things getting clearer for you, doc?" said Mal. "Because it's just getting mighty muddy for me. I'm still intrigued by this living weapon thing. I don't like someone who..." He looked down at River. "Subject 06, huh?"

"One died on the table," said River. "Two broke. Three got sick and died. Four was too dangerous. Five is alive, but can't even say her own name anymore. Six..." River looked at her hands. "Six _exists._"

Suddenly, River cried out and clutched her temples. Her fingernails dug into her skin hard enough to draw blood. Simon was at her side at an instant.

"It _hurts!_ Cell by cell, piece by piece, called back. You can rebuild a body but you can't make a mind. She dies and comes back every time. He makes her do things that cannot be done. I can feel the pain in the mirror now. She sees, hears, feels, touches, thinks things and they _happen_. No body, no soul, all mind. He makes her dance. He doesn't know it hurts her so much. She's too complete. Too finished to die..."

"Okay," said Wash. "I didn't understand a word of that, but that is incredibly creepy."

"They know that we are. The mirror is real. They see the mirror and want to smash it. Want to have two of a miracle. They hunt. She... she calls. She's not scared. She's telling us everything because she's calling for them. She knows that they'll come."

"Okay, now that seems a bit more relevant," said Mal. "Wash, get us in the air." He turned on the intercom. "Jayne! Search her, we think she might be bugged."

"On it." Jayne started to frisk Ms. Frye in a rather... thorough way.

"Come on now, I'm sure you can do it without being so... intimate, can't you?" asked Book, disapprovingly.

"Hey, women have more hidin' places than men do," said Jayne.

Ms. Frye just looked annoyed. "Honestly, if you look like I do, this is what most searches feel like. You get used to it."

"Aha!" Jayne pulled a small electronic device out of the front of Ms. Frye's shirt. The LED on it was blinking red. "What do we have here?"

"Oh, that's nothing. Just a little thing in case I get carried away."

"Well, we're not going to be having any of that." Jayne crushed the device in his hand. It beeped for a second before smoke emerged between his fingers.

Book walked over to the intercom. "Captain, if I may, why did you think she was bugged?"

"Call it a hunch," said Mal.

"Well, then," said Book, turning back to Ms. Frye, "I believe that we have learned quite a bit from each other. I'm not exactly sure what the captain has to say on the matter, but I think you are free to go."

At that moment, _Serenity_ lurched slightly. Ms. Frye looked out the window to see the view start moving. "I believe he's making his statement right about now."

"I see," said Book. "Well, as long as you act in a civil enough manner and don't prove yourself to be a direct threat, I'm sure you'll be fine." He started to leave the shuttle, but stopped himself. "One last thing. You've said some very personal information about operatives of the Alliance. Even telling someone else their names is a reason for you to be killed."

"Like you said, the three of us are the only people who have heard this," said Ms. Frye.

"Well, if you were in fact bugged, then you've broken this confidentiality completely of your own free will."

"I never said it was a bug. All your goon found was a little tracking device."

"Hey!" said Jayne. "I don't take kindly to you calling me a goon. Brute, maybe, or hell, even thug, but goon's a bit too far."

Ms. Frye just shrugged. "I don't care how I make you feel. It's not like I'll be on this boat for long."

"Hmm?" said Book.

"They'll find me," said Ms. Frye. "Of course they will. They can't live without me."

_**Elsewhere, at about the same time...**_

"Well, that was a good haul, don't you think, Malcolm?"

Zoe and Cpt. Reynolds entered the _IAV Serenity_, their arms laden with various goods and bags.

"I'd say so," said Cpt. Reynolds. "We've got food, those parts that Kaylee wanted, and that slinky dress that _you_ wanted."

"And I love you for it," said Zoe. She gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Good to see you two are back," said Mr. Cobb. He was in the cargo bay, reading. "I found information. Good info, as well. I ran into my double."

"Really?" said Cpt. Reynolds. "That is incredible. What is he like?"

"Ugh." Mr. Cobb frowned and scrunched up his nose. "Quite the brute. Coarse, boorish, and rather ugly, if I may say so myself. It also seemed that he was a rather polarizing person. He had songs praising him and drunks slandering him, and, frankly, I'm not sure which of them is right."

"Who knows?" said Cpt. Reynolds. "The main thing is, that they're in the same city as we are. And I thought that we might not run into them for weeks... thank you so much, Mr. Cobb. Really, I don't know what we'd do without you."

"Kill each other over past grievances, I suppose," said Mr. Cobb.

"Come on, I don't think we'd all kill each other," said Cpt. Reynolds.

"Oh, I don't know, Malcolm," said Zoe. "Mister Tam would kill you in a heartbeat."

"Well," said Cpt. Reynolds, "that w_ei shian dohn woo_ wouldn't care if Mr. Cobb was standing in front of me. The moment that I – that _any_ of us cease to be useful, he'd probably murder us in our sleep, or have his weapon tear us limb from limb. And that son of a bitch would be smiling all the while."

"Oh, captain, you know me _so_ well." Mr. Tam and Mr. Evans had returned, much to the surprise of Cpt. Reynolds. He was smiling, as well, which would put even the most unflappable men on edge. "Don't try to justify it, I'm well aware of how you think of me."

"So, how was your search?" said Mr. Cobb.

"Nothing of worth," said Mr. Evans. "Reports of this other Captain Reynolds, and of his ship, were nothing but history. His whereabouts are unknown."

"Set us a course for Londinium," said Mr. Tam. "They have much more satisfactory databases there."

"Well," said Mr. Cobb, "I do believe that they are here, in Antenora. In fact, I know they are."

"_What,"_ said Mr. Tam.

"Yeah," said Zoe. "Mr. Cobb bumped into his counterpart not far from here."

"_Zhen dao mei_," said Mr. Evans. "How is it that we find _nothing_ on them anywhere in the entire 'verse while you manage to bump into one of them on the same gorram planet?"

"Bad karma, I'd guess," said Cpt. Reynolds.

"You just can't resist throwing religion into every situation, can you?" said Mr. Evans.

"Karma isn't religious!" said Cpt. Reynolds. "Well,it is, but it's not Christian."

"Boys, boys, you can have your little brawl _after_ we find them," said Zoe.

Cpt. Reynolds nodded. "I'm going to see what Inara knows, if anything." He pulled out a communicator from his pocket and started calling.

"I assume that Subject 06 is out?" said Mr. Tam.

"You assume correctly," said Mr. Cobb. "Not sure where she went."

"Well, lucky for you all, retrieving her is quite simple," said Mr. Tam. He pulled out a device that looked vaguely like a communicator while still distinctly being something else, and spoke a phrase into it in some completely unfamiliar language. "She should be back shortly."

"What language was that?" said Mr. Cobb. "Didn't sound like... anything, really."

"It doesn't matter what it means. What matters is that Subject 06 will now be making her way to her chamber as fast as she possibly can arrive – that is to say, she may even be there by now."

Sure enough, a high-pitched cry of pain that was unfortunately familiar to everyone on the _IAV Serenity_ came from the infirmary. Mr. Tam grinned.

"Ah." Mr. Cobb put his book down. "I wasn't aware that teleportation was even possible, much less for humans."

"That's the beautiful thing about Subject 06," said Mr. Tam. "She can do so many things that are outright impossible."

"Doesn't sound too nice for her," said Zoe. Mr. Tam just shrugged.

Meanwhile, Cpt. Reynolds had established radio contact. "Inara, can you hear me?"

"I hear you," said Inara in a whisper. The visual feed flickered in. Wherever Inara was, it was dark. "Can't be too loud."

"Is everything alright?" asked Cpt. Reynolds. Zoe rolled her eyes and headed elsewhere.

"Everything is fine. I'm on a job at the moment, though," said Inara.

"A job? That soon?" said Cpt. Reynolds. "It usually takes you longer to get work."

"Well, let's just say that luck is on my side. It seems that I was already on a job involving one Malcolm Reynolds."

"Malcolm Reynolds?" said Cpt. Reynolds. "My dear, I think this goes from the realm of coincidence and straight to divine intervention. You are incredibly blessed. Have you found him?"

"I found his ship," said Inara. "_Firefly_ like ours. Total wreck, though. Looks older than any of us."

"Great!" said Cpt. Reynolds. "Where is it?"

"Track my position. I've managed to make my way onboard their ship."

Cpt. Reynolds pulled out a device from his belt and turned it on, revealing a small holographic 3-D map marked with dots. "Huh. Are you really that close to us?"

"Seems like it," said Inara. "You could certainly make it there within a minute of walking." Suddenly, her end of the conversation was filled with a loud sound and her screen got even darker. "I think we're taking off, though."

Sure enough, after a few seconds, one of the dots started to rise. "Looks like it. Should we prepare to intercept and rescue?" said Cpt. Reynolds.

"I think that sounds like a good idea," said Inara. "As of right now, I'm not sure how I'm going to be going about this."

"Well, think of something to hold you over," said Cpt. Reynolds. "We shall be there soon enough."

"Good," said Inara. "See you then,"

Cpt. Reynolds looked over at Mr. Evans, who was looking at him intently. His cybernetic eye glowed dimly with loathing. "Best of luck," he said to Inara, and he turned off his feed.

"What, no 'god be with you'?" said Mr. Evans. He smirked.

"I just can't win with you, can I?" said Cpt. Reynolds. He made his way up to the bridge. "Get us airborne. We have our target in our sights."

"_Shi ma?_ This soon?" said Sgt. Washburne.

"Inara found their ship. I guess we're just destined to meet them," said Cpt. Reynolds.

"Well, isn't that lucky." Sgt. Washburne started hitting the necessary buttons, but stopped partway through the process. "If Inara found the ship, wouldn't it most likely still be on the ground?"

"Well, it isn't. Not sure where it's going, but we'll be able to track it."

"Good." Sgt. Washburne went back to initiating takeoff. "How, exactly, are we tracking it?"

Cpt. Reynolds leaned over Sgt. Washburne, ignored his protest, and hit some buttons of his own. A 3-D map identical to the one Cpt. Reynolds had on his person (with the exception of size) appeared to Sgt. Washburne's left.

"The crew tracker?" said Wash. "What, is she on the ship?"

"That she is," said Cpt. Reynolds. "Keep them in atmo. We don't want them running off."

"That will take me a little bit, sir. All I have is a location. Once we're airborne, I'll be able to do that."

As the _IAV Serenity_ took off, Sgt. Washburne frowned. "Something feels off with the ship." He shrugged and started working on tracking them. "How'd she get there, anyway? Did she just guess?"

"Apparently, she was given a job leading there almost when she walked off the ship," said Cpt. Reynolds.

"Wow, that's... too good to be true. Seriously, this seems way too easy." The controls beeped and an image of a _Firefly-_class vessel appeared on one of the screens. "Looks like that's it. _Serenity_, a Mark-3, captained by one... Malcolm Reynolds. Running interference now." He hit a button and then turned to Cpt. Reynolds. "So, what exactly are we doing with them? Disabling them? Hijacking them? Blowing them out of the sky?"

"Well, I was thinking that the plan would go something like-" Cpt. Reynolds was cut off by some of the alarms on the dashboard going off, accompanied by a low metallic groan. "What was that?"

"That would be the... I don't really know, this is mostly Kaylee's responsibility," said Sgt. Washburne.

Cpt. Reynolds looked like he had realized he had forgotten his keys or something similar. He went to the intercom. "Kaylee Frye, report in at once."

No response.

"I _knew_ something was up," said Sgt. Washburne. He looked at the 3-D dot map. "Her tracking device isn't responding."

"_Mei wen ti,_" said Cpt. Reynolds.

"_Mei wen ti_?" asked Sgt. Washburne. He raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, Tam wants us to keep a schedule," said Cpt. Reynolds. "You want to deal with him?"

Sgt. Washburne sighed and flipped a few switches. Most of the readouts dropped by about half, and the alarms stopped. "We can manage, but most of our fancy upgrades aren't going to be working for this one."

"Then it's a fair fight," said Cpt. Reynolds. "Alright. Let's go hunt us some doppelgangers."

* * *

As the good ship _Serenity_ started to make its way upwards into the black, Kaylee went to make sure the engine was working. It was the first real take-off she had after she ran afoul of some folks who didn't appreciate their dogs being taken, and Kaylee was there to make sure she flew true.

As Kaylee looked over her engine, she almost overlooked someone else who was in the engine room with her. Someone unexpected.

She was a girl, with big eyes and red hair. Frankly, she looked terrified. When she and Kaylee noticed each other, they mutually screamed and backed away from each other.

"W-what are you doing here?" said Kaylee.

"I'm sorry!" said the girl. "I-I was frightened and scared and there were people and they wanted me and..." She trailed off and curled into a fetal position.

"Right..." said Kaylee, not convinced. "And so you... ran in here?"

"It seemed safe," said the girl. "I'm sorry that I'm here. I didn't expect it to take off. All I needed was... a place to hide."

"Alright..." said Kaylee, crossing her arms. "I see how it is."

"I hope you don't mind..." said the girl. "I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. She stood up and bowed. "My name is Johanna."

Kaylee nodded, somewhat confused. "Well, it's... nice to meet you, I guess. Hmm..." Kaylee took a second to think about the stowaway.

"This is a freighter, right?" said Johanna. "No soldiers or thugs to... hurt me, right?"

"What? Thugs?" said Kaylee. "No, I wouldn't say that there's thugs. You know what? I think the captain would really like to meet you. Mind if we go and see him?"

"He won't be mad, will he?" said Johanna.

"Don't think so," said Kaylee. "C'mon, he's probably in the dining hall. Maybe we can get you something to eat or something."

Johanna smiled. "That would be great."

Kaylee walked out, and Johanna followed. Kaylee wasn't quite sure what was going on with her, but the captain would like to know she was on board regardless.

Of course, the dining hall was directly across from the engine room, so the trip was quick, and Mal, Zoe, and Jayne were still there.

"Hey, cap'n!" said Kaylee. "Look who I found!" To Johanna's surprise, Kaylee turned, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her into the middle of the dining room.

The captain didn't look too happy to see Johanna. Judging by the two other people pointing guns at her, neither did the others. Johanna held her hands up, her earlier fear replaced, not with terror, but with annoyance.

"You have got to be kidding me..." said Johanna.

"Well, well, well," said Mal. "Didn't think I'd run into you so soon. Thought you were smarter than that."

Johanna looked confused. "Have we met?"

For a second, Mal looked completely gobsmacked. "Are you really trying the "we haven't met" thing?" said Zoe.

"She did it with me, too," said Kaylee. "Calls herself Johanna."

"Look," said Johanna. "I'm here by mistake. I really do think you have me confused for someone else."

"Maybe you're right," said Mal. "I don't happen to know any Johannas. I _do_ know a Saffron, though, and the two of you look mighty similar."

Johanna – or rather, Saffron frowned at Mal. "I've gone by many names, I'll give you that. But never Saffron."

"Well, there's quite a bit of evidence that points to you and her being one and the same," said Mal. "I mean, you're on my ship for reasons unknown. You aren't using your true name, I'm guessing. You wouldn't happen to be trying to rob us, would you?"

"Well," said Saffron, "it's not out of the question..."

"Hey, she looks like her, she's acting like her, I say that's good enough," said Jayne. "So, should we just shoot her or-"

"As tempting as that sounds," said Mal, "it's simple enough to just drop her off at the moment."

"Captain," said Wash, "we've got our atmo intakes jammed open, so-" Wash noticed all the guns and who they were pointed at. "Is this a bad time?"

"We're wrapping this up," said Zoe.

"Ah. Good. I'll let you do your standoff thing, then." Wash exited hastily.

"So," said Saffron. "You've caught me. Just drop me off, you go your way, and I go mine. Simple enough."

"Too simple," said Kaylee. "I mean, you've let us catch you, and you just want to be dropped off? Doesn't feel right."

"That it doesn't," said Mal.

At that moment, Inara entered the dining room. Saffron looked at her and immediately snatched Mal's pistol from his hands and aimed it at her. Surprisingly, she almost looked scared, her aim trembling.

"You... I thought you were dead," said Saffron.

Inara smiled without sincerity. "That's strange. I could have said the same for you."

Saffron chuckled slightly, still obviously uneasy. "Now, you, I certainly wouldn't forget."

"Look, I appreciate that you're starting to remember us now," said Mal, "but I have enough problems at the moment, so..." He clocked Saffron in the back of the head, knocking her down and out, and took the gun from her hands. "Alright. Jayne-"

Mal looked at Jayne, and at the unconscious Saffron, and at how Jayne's eyes lit up at the prospect of dealing with her in that state.

"Not Jayne," said Mal, which got an audible response of disappointment from Jayne. "Zoe, you go and put her in a passenger dorm. Not the same one as the other girl."

Zoe nodded, picked Saffron up over her shoulder, and took her away. Mal sat down at the table, tired.

"So," said Mal. "We have the doctor probably getting blackbirded, River drawing pictures of people who show up instead of us in the mirror and yet apparently are real breathing people, one of those people being on our ship, whatever Brightman's catch is, and now Saffron. I don't know about you, but I'd rather just deal with any one of those at any given time."

"Then make less problems," said Jayne. "Why don't you just go and shoot her?"

"I can't..." said Mal.

"Then let me shoot her," said Jayne.

"Look," said Mal, "as slippery as she is, we just don't go around killing people because they're treacherous."

"Um, yes, we do!" said Jayne. Kaylee nodded in agreement. "Look, you might be sentimental because the two of you got yourself all wed. I ain't, and I see that she's loads of trouble for us and for anyone else she bumps into. World's better off if she ain't breathin'."

"For once," said Inara, "I have to agree with Jayne. Who knows how many men she could rob and leave heartbroken before she finally is stopped?"

"What I'm interested to know," said Mal, "is why you're the only one of us she recognized. That ain't right."

"You guys done in here?" said Wash. "Good. I thought you might want to know that someone's jammed our atmo intakes open, so we're stuck on Persephone for now."

"Great," said Mal. "Get us planetside. Don't care where. We have a stowaway to drop off."

"Not a good idea, either. Badger sent us a message, said that he knows where we are and that he'll be on us if we make landfall again."

"So what are we supposed to do? Fly around until we get it fixed?" said Mal.

"Don't seem like we have many other options," said Wash.

"Then get this ship fixed, so we can get out of here and drop Saffron somewhere else." Kaylee and Wash headed off to do exactly that.

"You know," said Jayne, "maybe some of these problems have the same source as each other. Maybe we have less issues than we think."

* * *

The trip down the stairs in _Serenity_'s cargo bay was never the simplest task in the 'verse, especially if you happened to be carrying 130 pounds of unconscious seductress on your shoulders. Zoe made her way down to the floor carefully, which gave her ample time to notice Shepherd Book standing more-or-less aimlessly about, and for him to notice her.

"Another uninvited guest, I presume?" asked Book.

"Saffron," said Zoe. "Got herself caught awful quick."

"Interesting," said Book. "Her presence does explain something."

"Which is?" said Zoe.

"Brightman's deal," he said.

"What about it?" she said.

"Well," he said, "I took a look at Brightman's gifts. The two barrels that he had delivered are perfectly fine. Nothing wrong with them. Now, the barrel that we had brought..."

Zoe looked past Book to see that a rather familiar barrel had been knocked over, and an oily sheen covered the area. Looked like a lot less than what would fit in the barrel normally.

"So... we carried her in," she said. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about Brightman double-crossing us anymore."

"Now," he said, "I don't think that she would let herself be caught so easily."

"She was acting all sorts of strange." Zoe set Saffron down on a crate. "She pretended to not know who we were. It doesn't seem right."

"I'm surprised that she's as dry as she is, considering that she spent a long time submerged in fuel," he said.

"Oxy-bag, I'd guess. Pretty common during the war, though they don't hold air anymore. Or so I thought. We used 'em mostly for infiltrations just like this one."

"Well, at least she's being dealt with, for now," said Book. "One less problem."

"How's Ms. Frye?" said Zoe.

"Considering that she's being held without any plan to release her that I can see, she's handling it well. I must say, though, the more I think about what she is, the more she worries me."

"Thinking about who she works with, I take it?"

"Yes. Considering River's drawings and what Ms. Frye has said, I think that I would not like to meet them."

"Thinking about what your other would be like?"

"The thought has crossed my mind..." Book crossed his arms, leaned back, looked up, and sighed. "I don't know what he would be like, truth be told. But I know I wouldn't want to meet him."

"I'd probably shoot mine."

"Would you now?" Book chuckled. "I don't think you'd be alone in wanting to do that."

"I'm certain of it."

"Well, I'm going to be heading to the passenger dorms anyway. Mind if I take Saffron off your hands?"

"Make sure that there's no way she can get out. Last thing we need is her running around causing trouble."

* * *

"I still think we should just shoot her," said Jayne.

"Look, right now, Saffron's handled," said Mal. "Let's focus on some of the other issues, like who that girl Kaylee found is, and why River's drawing pictures of her before we even meet. I'm not sure if I like the idea of some tall, dark, and sexy doppelganger of Kaylee walking around, or the idea that there's one for each of us. Especially if mine's anything like that picture."

"An entire group of evil counterparts?" said Jayne. "Sounds like something from a crappy book."

"Hey, I don't know if they're all evil," said Mal. "We aren't exactly knights in shining armor."

"Did you see what she was wearing?" said Jayne. "Black leather and a jumpsuit that's tight in all the right places... especially those legs, and her ti-"

"_Jayne._" Mal gave Jayne a look that could stop a stampeding herd.

"Hey, what I'm getting at is that if you go around dressing in black and you look like that, well... evil," said Jayne.

"Well..." said Mal, looking at Inara, noticing that her dress was a fine shade of ebony and other dark tones. Inara gave him a look back. "Wouldn't call it evil. More so morally ambiguous."

"So is brown," said Inara.

"Brown has its own meaning nowadays, depending on where you are, and on this ship, brown's one of the best colors out there," said Mal.

"Well, are we going to _do_ anything with her?" said Jayne, "or are we gonna keep talkin' about colors?"

"Well," said Mal, "it doesn't seem like she's wronged us. But she _is_ probably giving them a beacon to where they are. I say we let them find us, give them the girl, and see where we go from there."

"I know what they want," said River. Nobody had noticed her standing in the doorway until she spoke up.

"...well?" said Mal. "What is it?"

"Me," said River. "Not all of them do. But enough. The ones in power want me for their own. They know how powerful Subject 06 is. They want more of it. More of the same. Someone else to take advantage of."

"Well," said Mal, but River was gone before he could respond. "Well, looks like we have a motivation to ponder, I suppose."

"Alright, then. You go ponder that. I'm gonna go and think a bit more about Kaylee and her new counterpart," said Jayne. "I'll be in my bunk." Jayne left, not noticing the looks that Jayne and Inara were giving him.

"So, you think that I should just shoot her?" said Mal.

"Isn't that tradition when dealing with ex-wives who try to rob you afterwards?" said Inara.

"Now, when have I ever been a traditionalist?"

For a brief moment, Inara's coy smile was genuine. "I see your point."

"Captain," said Wash over the intercom, "we're being hailed. We need you on the bridge, now."

"Is it someone worth talking to? If it's Badger, tell him I'm busy," said Mal.

"No," said Wash. "It's, well... it's _them_."

* * *

"Are you sure it's them?" asked Mal.

"Well, they told me that they wanted to speak to you at once," said Wash. "Haven't established full video contact, but take a look at this." Wash pointed to a set of numbers on one of the screens.

"Yeah. So? Just serial codes and identifiers," said Mal.

"Yes, but some of these are the ones for _Serenity_, _backwards_."

"Huh. What is this, anyway? Looks like either another _Firefly_ or some sort of Alliance gunship."

"I think..." said Wash, but he stopped. "Yes, you're right about that."

Mal looked at another screen. "Wow, the weapons scanner is really paying off. Look at all those guns..."

Wash looked at the screen as well and whistled. "Alright, let's try not to get attacked. They might be able to one-shot us. I mean, look at that! That's a gorram scorpion blade! Only Reavers would be crazy enough to use that!"

"Well, if they start shooting, you need to make sure we don't get hit. Man the controls, just in case this gets hairy." Mal sat down across from Wash. "Should I use an alias?"

"Eh... go for it," said Wash. "Not sure what he knows."

"Alright." With trepidation, Mal responded to the wave.

"This is... Captain Shadow. I can hear you loud and clear."

Wash turned and mouthed "Shadow?" Mal just shrugged.

"I can hear you loud and clear, Captain Reynolds." The video feed showed the man who looked exactly like the picture River drew of the captain. Seeing it in living breathing color just made Mal more uneased at the concept. "Yes, yes, I know who you are. You and I have a certain... connection, let's say."

"If by 'connection', do you so happen to mean 'doppelganger'?" said Mal. "Just wondering."

"Ah, you've caught on to the whole thing," said Cpt. Reynolds. "An odd situation we are in, to be sure. Well, I have no reason to hide who I am, so... Captain Malcolm Reynolds, at your service." Mal grimaced slightly and crossed his arms. "So, Captain Shadow, huh? Thinking of home, I assume?"

"First thing that came to mind," said Mal.

"I don't blame you. May God bless the souls of those who lived there - ourselves included, of course."

"So," said Mal. "I'm sure you have more reason to hail us than just stopping by."

"Oh, but this is a momentous occasion," said Cpt. Reynolds. "Two versions of the same person, conversing with one another. This is surely making history."

"I think I have made enough of that," said Mal. "And looking at you, I'd say that you have, as well."

"That is certainly true, Malcom. The two of us, victors of Serenity Valley- you did win yours, more or less, correct?"

Mal took a second to glare at his counterpart. "No, I didn't."

"Oh. That's interesting. Why'd you name the ship after it, then?"

"I have my reasons," said Mal.

"Well, even though I fought for the winning side," said Cpt. Reynolds, "and it seems that you lost, I'm sure we are not so different, you and I."

"Look, talk is nice," said an increasingly annoyed Mal, "but I know you want something from us. Or rather, someone."

"Right, yes. It does seem you picked up one of my crew on accident."

"I'd be more than happy to drop her off, but we can't either touch down or go elsewhere."

"Well, I apologize, then." Cpt. Reynolds turned to the pilot and told him something that Mal couldn't hear.

"Captain, it looks like our atmo intakes have been unjammed," said Wash.

"Well," said Mal, looking at Cpt. Reynolds. "What a coincidence."

"I assure you, it was meant solely to help us get to you," said Cpt. Reynolds. "I suppose yours and mine can meet somewhere safe enough - Whitefall, Beaumonde, et cetera - but I feel like we can settle this here and now. From what I can tell, our two ships have compatible shuttles. We both go out into the black a ways, you send one of your shuttles out for a spell, I send over mine, we dock, you send over what is ours, and then... well, I suppose we'll have to see."

"And that's it?" said Mal.

"That's all I want. You have my word," said Cpt. Reynolds. He sighed, looked behind him, and looked rather uneased.

"And the rest of your crew?"

"Well... yes, others do want other things. I mean, one of us wants to kill each and every one of you because you exist, but that's just unreasonable. Some of them, though..."

"I feel like some of you would like one of my crew for yourself. Just a hunch"

"Well... yes, that's the thing," said Cpt. Reynolds. "A certain person on my ship wants your subject. If she's caused you as many issues as ours has caused for us, I don't see any reason why you'd want to hold on to her."

"Okay, first off, she's no subject," said Mal. "I don't care what you call yours, but ours has a name."

"Alright, Ms. Tam, then. I'm sure that doesn't make her any less of a problem."

Mal glared. "Just because she's loads of trouble doesn't mean she's a bartering chip. She's a human being."

"I can't argue with Mr. Tam, though. That's the bad thing. He can't be stopped if he sets his mind on something, no matter how unethical. So, if you could send her with my crew, that would just make things so much easier..."

"Can't happen. I'm willing to send your girl back, but you won't be having any of mine."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully it will at least resolve itself without bloodshed. In that case, God be with you."

The feed cut out. Mal leaned back and crossed his arms.

"If I ever meet him in person... I'm going to shoot the bastard."


End file.
